Apparently inspired by Spiteful Brewing in Chicago, this is labelled as a ’double pale ale’ yet more than hoppy enough to qualify as an IPA. Medium thick, stable, yellowish white, beautifully lacing, perfectly equal head over a warm orangey blonde, lightly hazy beer. Very powerful yet gracious hop aroma, impressions of grapefruit peel, sweet tobacco, tonic water, hemp, white grapes, freshly grated ginger, mango, vanilla, orange, aniseed, rosewater, almond, butterscotch, straw, sage, bourbon. Delicate exotic fruit sweetness in onset (pineapple, red berry, papaja, orange), medium carbo, sourish touch for balance, on a soft, bready and caramelly maltiness, vivid yeasty spiciness too, with an extremely powerful and drying, complex, ’green’, resinous, herbal, citrussy hop bitterness unfolding in the back of the mouth, bringing the whole to a perfect balance, without any astringent alcohol. A hop head’s delight, this is absolutely delicious; the hop bitter finish is among the longest I ever experienced - I could swear I still had its hop taste in the back of my mouth when I woke up the next morning. The bottle wasn’t cheap to buy here in Belgium but worth every penny.

65 cl bottle @ home
Vertical with basic version
Aroma has has coffee and mocha, also some chocolate. More stale on the aroma side than the basic version. Flavour has coffee, dark chocolate, some cocoa and hints of vanilla. Quite close to the basic version but this has deeper level of roastiness and more coffee. This is less complex though.