Beer of the Week: Tenth Ann’y

From the Beer Writer: Once rare, triple IPAs have become surprisingly common…yet a good one can still be rather hard to find. Thanks to peoples’ pining for Pliny the Younger, that style-progenitor’s February-March release window now marks the start of triple IPA season. Come that time of year hundreds (if not thousands) of breweries across the country craft hoppy behemoths registering at or above 10% alcohol-by-volume (ABV). On top of that, triple (and quadruple and, yes, even quintuple) IPA production has spilled over into the rest of the year. Such perceived ubiquity could buff down a style’s shine or lead the public to believe constructing a quality IIIPA is easy, but like Rachel Green from Friends screaming at the top of her longs pre-door-slam, I’m here to tell you triple…at least good ones…aren’t that common and they are a big deal. Hence the spotlight being shined on this week’s featured beer, Tenth Ann’y from Societe Brewing. I worked at that Kearny Mesa operation for over three years. While the brewers are exceptional, there was one style that challenged them every time they attempted it. That’s right…the triple IPA. There were many crossed fingers whenever they brewed theirs, The Miser. During the weeks that big boy wiled away in tanks, it would change. One day, it would taste just about perfect, the next, it was the stuff of meh (or bleh), before reverting back into a brilliant hop nectar only to have its glory dissipate once more. It was such a difficult beast that sometimes it couldn’t be corralled into the taproom. Which is why it’s such a pleasure to see my former colleagues present this brilliant beer. Released in conjunction with Societe’s ten-year anniversary, it’s as low in alcohol as possible and well-attenuated (read: not a sugar-bomb). Aromas of Satsuma orange, pine and ripe mango lead the way to flavors of tangerine, peach, apricot, cantaloupe and butternut squash, followed by a dank, resinous finish that hangs on for dear life. It’s fitting that a milestone beer like this shows off growth and refinement.

From the Brewery: “Mostly we just love hops and doing a 10% beer for our tenth anniversary felt pretty right. Tenth Ann’y is a nod to some of those huge West Coast IPAs and classic hops that helped craft beer break through. We got to experiment a lot on the process side since it’s out of our normal ABV (alcohol-by-volume) spec and there’s just an egregious amount of hops on top of that. West Coast IPAs are kind of our happy place, so we went with familiar hops to bring out the piney grapefruit flavors that put San Diego on the beer map. It’s an extremely drinkable 10% thank-you card to the craft-beer community and hop-heads everywhere.”—Ted Gowan, Vice President of Brewing, Societe Brewing