Beer · Medium strength
Double IPA
An IPA with the volume knob broken off — more hops, more booze, more everything.
How to order it: 8% and up. Drink fresh, share the bottle, respect the morning after.
Flavor profile
The proper serve
- Tulip or snifter — smaller pour
- Serve at 45–50°F
- 8%+ — treat it like wine strength
- Pairs: rich, spicy, bold food
- Split a bottle; drink it fresh
The story
Credit for the first commercial double IPA generally goes to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 at tiny Blind Pig Brewing in Temecula, California doubled the hops partly to bury any flaws from his secondhand equipment — a confession he has cheerfully repeated for decades. At Russian River he refined the idea into Pliny the Elder, the perpetually beloved benchmark that launched a thousand pilgrimages and at least as many imitators. The style turned hops into an arms race: more bitterness, more aroma, more alcohol, eventually triple IPAs for those who found excess insufficient. It remains craft brewing's id in a glass — unreasonable on paper, dangerously coherent when made by someone who means it.
Adjacent pours