Name: Double Blizzard
Brewing Company: Tröegs Independent Brewing
Location: Hershey, PA
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double
ABV: 8.3%
“A superb Imperial IPA that is smartly blends the elements of East and West Coast IPA.“
The beer’s description on Tröegs’s Landing Page for the beer:
This is Blizzard of Hops … turned up to 11. For Double Blizzard, we used a cooler temperature for the kettle hop additions, softening the character of the Centennial, Chinook and El Dorado. On the cold side, we dry-hopped with four pounds per barrel of Chinook and Galaxy. At 8.3% ABV, we’re into semi-hazy Double IPA territory, and we like it here.
It took 9 months for me to post another review of an Imperial IPA, but damn was this one worth it!
Like many of the “newer” beers to emerge into wider distribution and seasonal rotation from Tröegs Independent Brewing, Double Blizzard began as a “Scratch” beer, the brewery’s experimental, small-batch beer available in only at the Tröegs’s Brewery in Hershey, PA. Soon after, that “Scratch” beer (#233) was re-branded as an imperial version of Tröegs’s delicious, popular “Winter” IPA, Blizzard of Hops. Finally, this year in 2020, the good people at Tröegs decided to add Double Blizzard throughout their distribution footprint, and here we are.
Based on how much I enjoyed Blizzard of Hops, I knew I’d want to try Double Blizzard so when it showed up locally, I immediately grabbed a four pack.
After a pop of the top and a pour into the glass, I get a strong hop aroma of some citrus and a high level of pine. Into the glass the beer goes and it is a bright yellow golden beer (which doesn’t quite show in the lighting of my picture). A full quaff of the aroma, coupled with the look, sets this beer in the realm of a promising, quality Imperial IPA.
Hops…lots of them. That’s my first impression of the beer. But I knew that going in given the name and the style. But the blend of hops in this one? It works really well for me: Centennial, Chinook, El Dorado, and Galaxy hops. Centennial is one of the classic C-Hops and is perhaps the most potent hops lending the citrusy pine notes that dominate the beer. The Galaxy hops bring a softening presence of some tropical fruit evocations for an extremely balanced IPA.
Double Blizzard is a true coming together of IPA styles – the tropical elements associated with New England/Northeast IPAs along with the bitter, piney, resinous character of classic West Coast IPAs. First is that color, the traditional West Coast IPA and Imperial IPA is more translucent than its East Coast brethren. Double Blizzard is indeed brighter and is more clear, like the West Coast IPAs, but there’s a slight haziness that sets the balance. As I said of the hop blend, it leans ever so slightly more in the West Coast direction, but the Galaxy hops in particular tug at the flavor strings towards the East Coast variety.
For my preferences, there’s a slightly stronger aftertaste from the hops than I typically care to experience. However, that slightly bitter/piney aftertaste is true to the style of the West Coast IPA to which the beer is hewing, so I can’t really say this is a mark against the beer’s quality. Because one thing is true of nearly every beer crafted by the Trogner Brothers and their brewery, quality is of the highest order.
In the end, Double Blizzard is an excellent Imperial IPA that plays very well with the two primary American variations of the tried and true style.
Recommended, link to Untappd 4-bottle cap rating.
The Tap Takeover 