Odell’s latest, a black IPA, balances out the bite

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Twitter begging: It’s not just for celebrity retweets on your birthday any more.

As a result of a little Boulder Weekly begging, Fort Collins brewery Odell agreed to give us a few samples to review. Odell’s reps swung by with three beers on the hops end of the scale: their India Pale Ale, Myrcenary double IPA and Mountain Standard, a double black IPA.
So we passed the bottles around the office and got a few informal reviews from BW staff on the three brews.

The IPA and Myrcenary are available just about year-round, the former in six-packs and the latter in fours.

Myrcenary, graphic designer Mark Goodman says, was “not too harsh. Groovy.

“I liked it, it was one of my favorite beers. It’s probably some of the best I’ve actually ever tasted of a double,” he says.

But for those of us a little shy about (OK, scared of) hops’ bite, the star of the show was Mountain Standard. In fact, that was true even for hopheads. Black IPAs scale back the bitterness and balance it with a hint of smooth maltiness, and Odell’s nails the formula.

“I really liked it,” says Editor Joel Dyer. “It was an IPA and I’m not a big IPA drinker. Usually I drink one, I go, ‘Wow, that’s pretty hoppy.’ But I really liked it. I would say, as a devout porter drinker, it gave me the opportunity to drink an IPA while feeling like I was still being loyal to my roots.”

“That was the perfect beer if you love hops,” says Associate Editor Elizabeth Miller, “but you also want your beer to have some heft to it.”

She and Arts & Entertainment Editor David Accomazzo piled on the compliments, which I wasn’t quick enough to mark by name:

“That was good.” “That was really nice.” “It wasn’t too hoppy for being a double IPA.”

For my part, again, Mountain Standard stole the show. I’m as much a dark-beer guy as Joel, but the black IPA might sway me next time I’m at the liquor store. Unless, of course, the Twitter begging game keeps the fridge stocked for us.