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4 Hands / Bale Breaker / Stone Sorry Not Sorry IPA close-up
Image
4 Hands / Bale Breaker / Stone Sorry Not Sorry IPA close-up

4 Hands / Bale Breaker / Stone Sorry Not Sorry IPA

STYLE
Double India Pale Ale
ABV
9.3%
IBUs
70

We make no apologies for the fact that we love brewing bold, flavorful, hop-centric beers. Naturally, we welcomed the opportunity to work with two amazing craft breweries that share our lupulin-fueled dedication: St. Louis-based 4 Hands Brewing Co., known for its innovative IPAs; and Bale Breaker Brewing Co., whose owners’ family has farmed hops in Washington’s Yakima Valley for generations. Since theirs was the first hop farm to commercially grow the beloved Simcoe variety, using that piney, stone fruit-like hop was a must. Puréed peaches upped the fruit factor, while experimental hops HBC 342 and HBC 344 introduced notes of stone fruit, tropical fruit, berries and citrus to this IPA. Yes, we made another IPA. We concede it’s not surprising, but we are who we are: an unapologetic band of hopheads psyched to explore the ever-expanding IPA universe.

ABOUT THIS BEER

Release Date
November 9, 2015

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

AVAILABLE
NOT AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE
NOT AVAILABLE

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

Australia; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Japan; Korea; Singapore; Sweden; and United Kingdom

Tasting Notes

Appearance
Pours a golden, light-brown color.
Aroma
As expected, hops dominate the aroma with lots of pine, resin and stone fruit (peach/apricot) qualities. Hints of peach nectar are also apparent as the beer warms and opens up.
Taste
Fruity and hoppy, the hops provide a blend of stone fruit, piney-hop resin and hints of dankness, tropical fruit and citrus. There are prevalent peach fruit flavors that really complement the hops, especially as the beer warms up. The Munich malt provides some nice color and balance to the hop bitterness, and the beer finishes slightly sweet with a very smooth bitterness.
Palate
Rounded but bitter with some light sweetness
Overall
Two of our favorite new breweries joined us for this fun collaboration. 4 Hands Brewing Co. of St. Louis and Bale Breaker Brewing Co. of Moxee, Washington, are good friends and great brewers, and they certainly love their hops. So when we first started talking about brewing, the idea of brewing a double IPA was the only option that was really ever on the table. The team at Bale Breaker helped us secure an experimental hop, currently named HBC 344, for use in this beer. To that we added another experimental hop that we had here at Stone, HBC 342. And then we added some Simcoe and Mosaic for good measure. We talked at length about adding some fruit to the beer that could complement the hop character, and the team at 4 Hands suggested peaches, which sure enough combines with the stone fruit character of the hops wonderfully.
Provided by
Mitch Steele
,
Brewmaster

Pairing Notes

Appetizers
Coconut shrimp, cheddar cheese-stuffed jalapeño poppers, spring rolls, rosemary chicken kabobs
Soups and Salads
Chili verde, Waldorf salad, Thai green papaya salad, arugula and peach salad
Entrées
Baja fish tacos, jerk chicken, tofu fried rice, Cajun pork chicken, panang curry
Cheeses
Grana Padano, pepper jack, Maytag Blue, Widmer’s 4 Year Aged Cheddar
Desserts
Carrot cake, coconut macaroons, peach cobbler, spiced cake
Cigars
Drew Estate Herrera Esteli, Don Pepín García Blue Label Invictos Corojo Robusto, Alec Bradley Trilogy Authentic Corojo
Provided by
"Dr." Bill Sysak
,
Craft Beer Ambassador