Ace of Spades Imperial IPA
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, OR
Thank goodness for breweries that haven’t forgotten about the beauty of bright, bitter beer. Hopworks won gold at the Great American Beer Festival back in 2009 for this pale amber Imperial IPA and while the recipe has changed slightly in the years since, it hasn’t lost any of its greatness. On the nose Ace of Spades is a fruit cocktail of pineapple, peach, and ruby red grapefruit, plus some faint alcohol heat as it warms in the glass. There’s a touch of caramel malt sweetness on the palate, but overall the spotlight is on the hops—all eight varieties of them. Leaning dry in the finish with plenty of piney, Pacific Northwest character and a citrusy linger, this is a beer that still holds up after all these years, just like that song by Motörhead.
Price: $15/4-pack | 8.6% ABV
Review by Sip Contributor Ben Keene, @where_and_back
