Top 100 Beers of 2015 (Issue 22)

World Class (100 to 96)

5.
96
by Josh Weikert
Blast!
Brooklyn Brewery

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Judge's Second Opinion
from Josh Weikert

I’ve got a thing about IPAs – I almost never make them. I’ll brew anything. I’ve won medals in literally every BJCP style category (and the 2015 guidelines will let me hit some new ones!) as a means of ensuring that I can confidently brew across the whole beer spectrum. But I don’t really brew IPAs. Why not?

Well, because there’s a whole world of competent IPAs out there. Why would I brew my own when I can pick up a case of just about any brewery’s IPA? The dirty secret in the beer world (which maybe isn’t so secret) is that the distance between an IPA at the 95th percentile of quality and the 5th percentile of quality isn’t all that large.  Maybe the very, very best of them are much better than the very, very worst, but honestly, most of the time they’re all just somewhere between OK and pretty good.  

Having said that… sometimes you get to enjoy one of those really great IPAs, like Blast!, and for me it really just makes me wonder why more breweries don’t just…. you know… STOP making theirs so that we can appreciate the really good ones.  If there’s an area that is screaming for some winnowing out in the beer world, it’s in the realm of IPAs.

This one is awesome. It’s a pretty beer that smells fruity and fresh but still lets you know it’s beer (because, you know, grain). It tastes wonderful – extremely high bitterness, but not in a way that grates on the palate. It’s a smooth bitterness, if that’s not too much of an oxymoron. And it isn’t all just the bitterness: some brewer went out of his/her way to make sure that you can taste all of the other elements of the beer as well.  

That’s the thing. IPAs are so popular because of two things: one, anyone can pick out their key feature (hop flavor/aroma/bitterness); and two, even mediocre brewers can make a decent one. But they can’t make a great one because they‘re using hops to paper over a sloppy or mediocre beer.

Making a great IPA like Blast! is an exercise in balance. That’s an odd sentence in a style that supports ridiculously high bitterness, but it’s true. Great brewers can have a dominant flavor, but still find ways to let the other elements contribute, and not just in a way that keeps that dominant flavor from being offensive. Yes, you can use alcohol sweetness or crystal malts to offset hop bittering – but isn’t it better to also have them contribute in a meaningful way to the overall gustatory aesthetic? So get yourself a bottle and remind yourself why big, beautiful IPAs are such a great find. For those of us who are wading through the sea of mediocre IPAs to help you find the great ones, it’s the best outcome we can hope for. Reward Brooklyn for their efforts, and your palate will thank you!

Brewer's Thoughts
from Garrett Oliver

Another one of the biggest breweries in America, Brooklyn Brewery has a vast and varied selection of year-round and limited-release beers, but according to our reviewer the best one we reviewed this year was Brooklyn’s Blast! Double IPA.

I spoke to Garrett Oliver, founder of Brooklyn Brewery, to discuss one of his favorite brews. I first asked where the recipe of Blast! came from: “Blast! was actually the name of my first batch of homebrew in 1984, though that was a pale ale, not an IPA. We've produced a version of this beer for about 10 years now. I did the original recipe, but as new hops have become available, I've sat down with our team to make little adjustments here and there over the years. We love where Blast! is right now.”

With so many Double IPAs available on the market today, I wanted to get Garrett’s thoughts on why Blast! rose above the ranks in our 2015 ratings. “I think the structure and sense of balance set it apart. It's not only hoppy, but it also just tastes really good. There's a nice stone-fruit character in the center from the use of some great British hops alongside the American ones, which give the beer its ‘pop.’ The most important trait here is outright deliciousness.”

Garrett finished up by saying Blast! is indeed one of his favorite beers, which is “vaguely problematic, as it’s easy to forget that the beer is 8.4 percent ABV. He also said that while British hops tend to age better than American ones, there’s no time like the present to enjoy a cold Blast!.

Obviously, our judge had a "blast" drinking this beer, and we think you will too.