The beers of Iwakuni: Olde Hickory brewery, Death by hops

I apologize for the lack of reviews as of late, I've been at Sgt Course at the SNCO Academy in Okinawa. Although it certainly curtailed my beer drinking, I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would suggest it to anyone who wants to improve their leadership skills and network with people from around the Marine Corps. But on to today's beer. It's the Death by Hops from Olde Hickory Brewery out of Hickory North Carolina. I would like to thank Chris Hilgar for sending me this beverage and apologize that it took this long to get to it. The Olde Hickory Website claims "71lbs of high alpha hops were used to make this beer. That’s just over 20 grams of hops used for each pint! DBH was brewed with 2 row barley, Carapils and Crisp Crystal 45 malts and fermented to 7% alc/vol. DBH was hopped with 5 different West Coast hops: Chinook, Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial and Cascade. Additionally, DBH was twice dry hopped with different combinations of these hops. The net result is an amazing aroma of ripe juicy fruit mixed in with a bouquet of spring flowers. DBH was brewed to a level of bitterness of 108 IBU’s, and leaves a lingering bitterness; it is, after all, a double IPA!". This double IPA came to Olde Hickory by way of their first Pro-Am competition where it was brewed by Alex Buerckholtz of Ashville. Olde Hickory brewery started in 1994 with a 7 bbl system converted from dairy production (not an uncommon practice in those days). They would outgrow that system and convert over to a 25 bbl in 1997 when they moved to a new location, new for them at least. The building they moved to and are still operating out of was built in 1880 and is a registered landmark in Hickory. They are currently do both filtered beer that is sent to conditioning tanks and unfiltered cask conditioned beer.

The bottle is a standard 12 oz. and on the side claims "Death by Hops" "A west coast classic brewed in the Southeast. DBH is brewed with over 7.5 grams of Hops per pint leaving this IPA with a whopping 108 IBUs. Select west coast hops give this beer a punching floral aroma and a bite of citrus flavor. The bitterness is only tamed by a mildly sweet copper body. It's candy for the hop heads.". It even has a little section entitled "Vitals" which claims the beer is 7% ABV, 108 IBU (international bitterness units), 7 SRM (Standard reference method, it's a numerical value for the color of beer. Although this is contradictory information as 7 SRM would mean the color is golden where as the brewery described it as copper, which starts at 9 SRM), and 16° Plato O.G. (Referring to the beers Original Gravity on the Plato scale, which is the density of the wort [compared to water] which became this beer. Why they would put the Original Gravity and not the Final Gravity on the bottle I do not know.). The cap advertises the "Pints for prostates" charity, which seeks to raise awareness about prostate cancer and the need for men to be periodically screened for it by engaging them with a common pastime, beer. A noble cause if there ever was one. And now to enjoy this beer that was bottled six months ago. I'll be using my American pint glass. Time to see that head.

Nose from the bottle is citrus with a piney hop oil scent, its rather intense. Color is a golden amber (you know, a 7 SRM). There isn't really a head to speak of, but there are bubbles coming up, so it's not flat. Nose from the glass is more piney than the bottle, and maybe a little fruity as well. It has an almost apple juice quality to it. On first sip, piney bitterness that lingers long after you have swallowed. It starts out with pine and then moves to orange/grapefruit peel and then finishes with a blend of pine and peel. It has low acidity and is a lower medium body, which is to say it drinks easy and goes down smooth. I'm just now getting a sweet flavor from it, but only as a aftertaste. It's very pleasant for a beer this bitter. Reminds me of a more tame Hop Stoopid.

I got a new haul of vinyl today, it's all been waiting on me for a month but I think it was worth the wait. I bought a second copy of "The Specials" as my original copy is back in the States, as well as a copy of  The Selctor's "Too much pressure", my other favorite two-tone Ska band. Other than that I got a two disk set of Leadbelly's album "Black Betty" as well as the Reservoir dogs soundtrack. My new Joyo Actone pedal for my guitar came in as well. It didn't come with a power supply so I had to use the one out of my Tube Monster overdrive, but it sounds awesome. In other news, once I submit my paperwork I can finally buy a car out here, but now I'm debating whether or not I should. I would probably wind up picking up somebody's clunker as I just put 5k into my stock account. As much as personally I don't like Michal Bloomberg, his convertible securities ETF is awesome and should do quite well in the future. In a couple months I think I'll sell some of my shares of it and get into an unrelated ETF as right now this thing accounts for 30% of my portfolio, and I know from past experience that having more than 20% of your money in anything is bad juju.

Final thought. It's a nice beer. Not totally unlike anything else I've had, but of sufficient quality. Certainly a session beer, I think I could polish two or three of these things off no problem, a pleasant drink for the bitter lover. That being said, I suggest getting a six pack of this and I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.