Beer of the Week: Wicked As Sin

From the Beer Writer: In the ever-changing craft-beer realm, many fans seem obsessed with forward-movement and “progress”. Why the air-quotes? Because, even though brewers are pushing the envelope at an unprecedented rate, not all of their experiments are necessarily advancing the medium. Don’t get me wrong. Pastry stouts; over-fruited sours; cold, brut and milkshake IPAs all have their place as well as people who very much enjoy them, but the styles at their foundations—English-style stouts, Berliner-style weisses and traditional IPAs (or IPLs)—are, in most peoples’ minds, objectively better. So it’s refreshing to see Pariah Brewing, an outfit known for its quality hazy IPAs, not only receive fan requests to brew a West Coast IPA, but respond by concocting one. Enter this week’s featured beer, Wicked As Sin. Built on a classic foundation and infused with modern-day hops, it strikes a wonderful balance between IPAs of today (guava, passionfruit, lemon, orange) and yesterday (grapefruit, pine, hashish and an interesting Earl Grey tea note), all with a potent yet palatable bitterness. This beer serves as proof that, while its essential for craft-beer that the brewing pendulum continue to swing further and further out, it’s important to remember—and revisit—its gravitational center.

From the Brewer: “Wicked As Sin is actually the first IPA recipe I wrote commercially back in 2012. It features a malt base of pale two-row and just a bit of Munich 1, along with mostly ‘old-school’ delicious hops. At the time I was able to get a tiny bit of Citra, which felt like trying to get an 8:30 res at Dorsia. Our hop supplier sent me a one-ounce sample of a hop called 369 that, later, famously became Mosaic. I immediately begged to get some on contract. It took several weeks of pleading, but I finally got it and started producing this recipe year-round. Pariah has recently received increasing requests for a West Coast IPA, so I figured it would fun to return to something from a long time ago. Steven Teran and I applied everything we’ve learned over the years brewing hoppy beers at Pariah to drive thiols, etc., etc., etc., but the base is the same and we are thrilled with the results. We hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do.”—Brian Mitchell, Owner & Head Brewer, Pariah Brewing