Spiteful Bitter Biker Double IPA

Brewed by Spiteful Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Dark orange pour. White head. Grapefruit and bitter taste. Sweet and tangy. Huh yeah

Bottle from a generous trader. Pours orange gold with white head ring. Nose and taste of perfumy hops, grapefruit, orange peel, dank citrus and caramel malt. Malt forward with dank bitter citrus in the finish. Medium body.

Bomber bottle and served in and snifter: Pours a deep coppery hue with a lasting frothy head and very good lace. The aroma smacks of pungent resiny and dank hops with some citrus and hops spice, the malts smell more like spent malts than fresh malt with a soapy note as well. The taste is sweet and dank with lots of hop spice. Problem is everything seems muddled and without a clear direction of what this beer is suppose to be. It is the DIPA equivalent to Bells Batch 9000. The mouth feel is aggressive and biting, slightly metallic. Ultimately this beer would be deemed a failure in my opinion, needs a cleaner and more pronounce hop profile. Even at 9.6 ABV I would say this is under fermented.

22 oz bottle from Binnys South Loop (Chicago, IL). Kinda a wham-bam local DIPA "Happy Hour" waiting for the delivery guy. Pours a deeper copper orange hue, some darkness to the body, firm haziness. Orange sunset glow on the edges. A frothy offwhite head sits atop and laces ok, mellow layer sticks around. Aromas are some firmer earthy florals, some citrus, gentle fruit. A distinct biscuity and toasty malt element hits the nose, some firmer malt elements, nice dry and bitter hop nose shows some gentle fruit, more earthy and a bit brash bitterness. Initial is toasty and malt driven for me, a firmer medium body hits the palate, toasty and biscuity, a bit sweet and sticky. Some firm dry hops are earthy florals, grass, and some gentle lemon. The malt body seems to really cut through, Columbus element seems to play into it too. A bit fruity. Middle is sweet and a bit girthy, biscuity malts, some almost cocoa and brown malt earthiness. bigger biscuit, caramel. Firmer dryness comes back, mixes with that sweet element, oranges and grapefruit fruitiness. The hops just don’t do enough here, they don’t even smack up front. The flavors are there, but can’t compete. Whatever the malt bill is, it’s just too big, toasty, biscuity, and sticky. It clogs up the hop element. Finish is toasty, biscuity, some butterscotch. I’m not a fan of this beer. Especially as a DIPA. Looks pretty and then never comes together for me. It’s an ok beer, but when there are other fresh, vibrant hoppy offerings on the market not only from Chicago but other breweries, it’s hard to consider a re-buy on this. Meh. I’m a fan of my previous Spiteful beers tried, but this just isn’t my thing. Keep drewbeerme away from this.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a burnt orange color with a big off white head. Aroma of strong tropical fruit and citrus hops. Tons of grapefruit, pine, and tangerine. Some malt backing, mild booze. Flavor is intensely bitter. Nice, grapefruit peel and tangerine. Mild sweet malt backing. This is all about the hops. Nice beer, for sure. Medium bodied, nice carbonation. Finished long and bitter.

22oz bottle from Binny’s Lincoln Park. Batch #9. Pours a clear copper-gold colored body with a finger-width, creamy, light tan head that dissipates slowly and leaves a nice lacing. Aroma is piney and resiny with lots of grapefruits, oranges, and a slight tropical fruit note. Somewhat grainy with a sturdy caramel showing through the hops offering some sweetness. Flavor is similar. Lots of sweet, resiny, piney hops with plenty of grapefruits, tropical fruits, and pineapple as well as a slight candied orange and a big, sticky bitterness throughout. The hops are nicely balanced by a lightly sweetened caramel and grainy malt backing before this finishes dry, bitter, resiny, fruity, and somewhat sweet before leaving a lengthy aftertaste. Medium body and a soft, moderate carbonation. Overall, a really solid DIPA. Pretty bitter, but well balanced while staying clean and very easy drinking for the size. Good one.

Bombers poured to samplers at Old School Tavern & Grill for the 1st Annual Tale of Two Parks pub crawl. Displayed a hazed, orange/amber with a modest, soft white head, and waves & spray of lacing. The nose was some dank grain, strong resin & citrus as tangerine and some grapefruit, mid-fruit, and a touch of caramel/malt sweetness. Medium+ body, with medium, earthy and resiny bitterness that lingered into the finish with some malt sweetness, and booziness that perked up as the beer warmed. In a snifter or tulip, and a little more time would have helped my appreciation. Hope to try on tap in the future.

bicycling in chicago is sweet, not bitter. i like the beer anyway. and i love that it was brewed for us.

22oz bottle. Pours a copper orange with an off white head. The aroma is pretty nice. Lots of pine, grass, caramel, and fruit. The flavor falls short though. Lots of sweet doughy caramel with a bitter finish. The flavor from the hops is overpowered by the caramel, alcohol, and pine. This is definitely more in the style of the DIPAs from 8 years ago. Lots of sweet malt some strong bitterness and alcohol. I prefer my IPAs with less malt and more of an emphasis on hop flavors. Decent.

Bottle @ a recent bottle share... Poured hazy orange with a white head. Dense, earthy, resinous, black pepper spiced hops all over this one. Bitter and still balanced with enough malt to follow. And not in your face for the high abv.