Devils Backbone Brewing Company

So last Saturday I went into Charlottesville to see Lucero which is one of my favorite bands play at the Jefferson Theatre.  It was a great show and the Jefferson venue really impressed me.  I tried Sam Adams Noble Pils for the first time there and really enjoyed it.  I especially like the style of pilsner for it's grace and delicateness. I also had some Starr Hill Ambers which are one of my favorites that Starr Hill brews.  The reason  why I mention this is that this led me to be at all four Brew Ridge Trail breweries in a given week, and really in four days.  Wednesday there was a local marketing meeting held at Blue Mountain Brewing Company and I had some really incredible beers.  Their "Blue" is a Belgian-style Triple and is delicious and their orange imperial stout aged in pinot noir barrels was amazing, I forget the exact name if it but the beer was more than memorable.  Friday found me at Starr Hill dropping off World Beer Cup entries.  Starr Hill is a great neighbor to have.  They are a production brewery and share some of the logistical assets they have.  I had their new double IPA, I think its called Hop Star (keep your eyes open for it), and it was terrific.  I also had their Triple which is world class.  Saturday found me in Charlottesville and before the rock show I went to South Street Brewing Company for dinner.  I had a great Saison and an old ale called Absolution.  The Absolution was an incredible beer, get it before it's gone.  Anyway, this past week confirmed that I live in a great place with great beer.  And oh yeah, Lucero blew the doors off of the Jefferson.  Check out the Brew Ridge Trail and the band.

http://brewridgetrail.com/

http://www.luceromusic.com/site/index.php

So you like hops huh?  Well I am sitting here on the eve of brewing a new double IPA, the Ten Point IPA.  No it will not be ten % alcohol but rather the name is part of our "Buck" series of pale ales.  Let me explain.  Our house IPA, the Eight Point IPA was named after an eight point buck I saw one morning while trying to think of beer names sortly before we opened.  The "Buck" scale works not off of exact alcohol numbers but general strength.  For example, we have a seasonal beer called Four Point Pale Ale, while it was 4% abv, it was named because it was less strong than the Eight Point IPA but still hoppy.  Last winter I brewed a beer with Bob and Ellie Tupper of Tuppers Hop Pocket fame called Twelve Point IPA (on premise) and Tuppers Deep Pockets (off premise).  This new Ten Point IPA will fall in strength between out normal IPA and the Twelve Point.  It should clock in at 7.8% abv, and be supper hoppy.  I'm not even going to guess at the IBU's.  Essentially I'm adding twice the hops that's in our normal house IPA. 

The Ten Point IPA is inspired by some of the west coasts double IPA's, especially Pizza Ports / Port Brewing Hop 15.  That beer is brewed with 15 different hops added every 15 minutes of the boil.  The Ten Point IPA will be brewed with ten types of hops added ten times during the boil.  I will add two pound of each hop to a large bucket and mix them. Then I will had the hop mixture ten times during the boil to create what I can only imagine to be pure hop fury.  The hops going into this beer are the following; Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, Simcoe, Amarillo, Willamette, Fuggle, East Kent Goldings, Saaz, and Hallertau Tradition.  I will also dry hop this beer with the same hop mixture.

Expect to see this on tap in April.

Hoppy Trails,

Jason