The Beer Club brought to my attention another craft beer maker I had never heard of: Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling of Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. The somewhat slick Crown Valley website doesn't give the date of the brewery's founding or any history of it's growth. I gather from their blog that the beer at hand, Gunslinger Double India Pale Ale, has been on the market for less than five months. On the whole, going into this tasting pretty blind, which is fine by me.
The beer pours a light amber with 3/4 inch head. There is a nice rounded nose of yeast, tangerine, a little clove spice.
In the flavor, light, sweet malt and bitter, sappy hops are nicely balanced. I notice a note of mild butterscotch. I am struck by the absence of the huge, dense body characteristic of other DIPAs I've tried (for example the enormous Stoudt's Double IPA). Though noteworthy, that is not necessarily an automatic demerit in my book. The beer is not excessively bitter in the aftertaste, especially for the amount of hops allegedly used in the recipe. Alcohol is noticeable, and that would be an expected DIPA trait.
This would make a very approachable introduction to the "double" style for someone who already likes IPAs. I will have to sample more from Crown Valley's 12 beer lineup before I can form an opinion about their overall prowess. The fact that their brewmaster spent virtually all of his career within Anheuser-Busch makes me a little cautious.
From the bottle's label:
Gunslinger Double IPA is a robust and malty beer, with an intense hop profile. We balanced the rich malt flavor with some powerful hop notes from the use of five different hop varieties.
Featured beer:
Gunslinger Double India Pale Ale
Honorable mentions:
Stoudt's Double IPA
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