Beer

Hopocalypse: The White Horse

March 18, 2016

Industry treasure & Drake’s Brewmaster John Gillooly has a lot of opinions. Here is his thoughts on our Limited Release Hopocalpse White Label, an Imperial White IPA.

“This year we added a couple of new beers to our Hopocalypse series – a White Label and a Red Label, to accompany our existing Green and Black Label. This is apparently a reference to the FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE, which I gather is a popular… Israeli metal band? I’m not very hip.

When we get a chance to make a new hoppy beer we just get happy and start figuring out what we want to do. For a beer called “White Label” we immediately decided that this would obviously be a “white” IPA – but no spices or orange peels, clean and neutral yeast. The white in this IIPA is from using a combination of wheat and rye which leave a cool protein haze.

So OK– what next?

We felt like this was a good opportunity to lean on some of our more tropical and floral hops, so we built the recipe around a variety of new-fangled German and New Zealand hops, as well as Amarillo, a favorite US variety that features dankly citric overtones. These aromatic elements go great with the dark tangerine notes of the Bavaria Mandarina, and the floral tropicality of NZ Motueka. The elements add up to a really neat combination of fruits and flowers and a really nice lot of Maui Wowie (you know what I mean).

White Label. It’s a thing. Hoppy, with a really interesting hop character, not too bitter, plus some interesting mouth-feel from the wheat and rye, as well as a nice crisp finish. Drink it.”

Drakes-White-Label-65 cropped

Beer Style – Double I.P.A. / Imperial White I.P.A.

ABV: 8.4%

O.G. 17.5 Plato

IBUs – 83

Availability – Very Limited, Mid-March to April

Serving Vessel- Tulip or snifter glass

Primary Malt- Rahr 2-Row Malted Barley

Specialty Malt-

  • Rahr White Wheat
  • Grain Millers Flaked Rye
  • Weyermann Pilsner

Hops in the Kettle

  • Warrior

Hops in the Whirlpool

  • Belma
  • Hallertau Mandarina

Dry Hopping in the Fermenter

  • Amarillo
  • Hallertau Blanc
  • Motueka

Food Pairings

  • Cheese– Triple Cream Brie or Chèvre Goat Cheese
  • Appetizer– Bruschetta w/ caramelized balsamic vinegar, tomato salad, mozzarella, and prosciutto
  • Main Course– Citrus Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Chicken Torta
  • Dessert– Pineapple Upside-Down Cake or Key lime pie dessert

Comparable Beers

  • Midnight Sun Hop Dog Wheat IPA
  • El Segundo White Dog IPA
  • Anchorage Galaxy White IPA