Beer of the Week: 11th Anniversary IPA

You see that a brewery is celebrating its anniversary and has crafted a limited-edition beer specifically for the occasion. Then you see it’s an IPA. Automatically, you start to wonder if they’ve brewed a double, triple or, dare we say, quadruple IPA for the commemorative event. (Because, rare as it is, quads happen.) The near-universal thinking since the dawn of the craft-beer era has been that big days merit equally big, burly, high-alcohol beers. But I’ve often wondered if that’s really the best route to go, especially given the fact that most brewing companies celebrate their anniversaries with festival-style drinking affairs. The last thing someone needs during an all-afternoon event is some double-digit-strength ale or lager that will more likely than not curtail the good times and lead to an early (and probably embarrassing) exit. Last weekend, I attended the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival, which is arguably the best fest of its kind anywhere. The beer list is insane every year, and always stocked with imperial stouts and barleywines registering at or well above 10% ABV (alcohol-by-volume). As such, I always have to pick and choose the handful I can sample, because I’m sure as heck not checking out early because I couldn’t mind my Ps and Qs (pints and quarts, in case you ever wondered). The next beer event I’ll be attending is Duck Foot Brewing’s 11-year anniversary party, which is taking place over two sessions tomorrow at the company’s Miramar headquarters. Thanks to the foresight of their brewing team, I won’t have to worry so much about rampant inebriation, as the majority of the beers on their 26-deep tap list will come in at or around session strength. That includes this week’s featured beer, 11th Anniversary IPA. A “Wicked Coast” (i.e., West Coast) model, it’s small from an ABV perspective at just 5%, but huge in flavor and aroma thanks to aggressive hopping with various forms of Citra and Strata hops. The former really shine through, lending clear-cut notes of navel orange pith, zest and juice. It’s a session IPA that drinks like a full-on single and, like so many of the beers at the anniversary soiree, will allow attendees to enjoy responsibly over either of the three-hour sessions. What’s that? You’re only interested in bruising, heavy-hitter beers? No worries. Duck Foot will have Duckzilla double IPA on, along with a Belgian-style tripel and multiple decadent imperial stouts, including the last keg of Murbon, an 11-percenter aged for more than 30 months in maple-bourbon barrels. Good morning! And happy anniversary, Duck Foot!

Each year when the Duck Foot anniversary rolls around and we start talking about what to brew for the party, we like to talk about what beers, ingredients and flavors are currently keeping our attention. That discussion always leads to us being thirsty, and sometimes it even leads to a new beer. This year it all worked out and led right to our 11th anniversary IPA. We all realized that we had been enjoying our 5.1% ABV IPA, Keep on Duckin’, and we wanted to keep things on the lighter side. We also knew that we all wanted to drink more beer with Strata hops, so we went the tiny IPA route and used huge quantities of Strata and Citra hops. We laid the base for this IPA with Pilsner malt and added a touch of rye malt for funsies. From there it was Citra and Strata pellet hops into the kettle, a clean fermenting yeast so that we could enjoy all that those hops had to offer. Then post-fermentation we added Cryo Citra and Cryo Strata…but we were not done there. Hyperboost of both varieties went into the tank too! It may be a small beer, but the character is big and loud with bright citrus and fresh strawberry aromas and flavors.”

Matt Akin, Head Brewer, Duck Foot Brewing

Duck Foot Brewing’s taprooms are located at 8920 Kenamar Drive in Miramar and 978 North Coast Highway 101 in Leucadia