Thomas Creek Up the Creek Extreme IPA

Brewed by Thomas Creek Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Greenville, South Carolina USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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UPDATED: JUN 8, 2012 This is my new favorite beer, I think it’s the perfect balance of sweet malts and piney citrusy hops. Smooth, refreshing and wonderful.

Thomas Creek: Up the Creek IPA. A+ beer but kind of pricey. This is an awesome extreme IPA. This is one of the best high gravity IPA’s I’ve ever had. I wish I could afford this beer on a regular basis. It’s malty. It’s extremely hoppy. A hophead’s dream. Style: Imperial/Double IPA Color: Red Mahogony Malts: 2-Row Pale, Caramel 20, Special B, Caramel 120 Bittering Hops: Warrior & Nugget Flavor/Aroma Hops: Amarillo, Willamette, & Dry hopped with Amarillo ABV: 12.5% IBU: 111 It comes in 4 packs of 12 ounce bottles for $10 at Total Wine (In South Carolina). But in in other states, it can be as expensive as $14 per 4 pack. But it can also be bought in a growler-fill for $13.50 (1/2 gal ’64oz’). So clearly the 4 packs are cheaper by the ounce. 4packs (48oz) = 20.8 cents per oz 1/2gal Growler = 21.1 cents per oz But it is all perception. A 4 pack just seems like they are charging me just because they can. Why not sell it in a 6 pack or a 750mL bottle. A growler is nearly a 6 pack (5.33 12oz bottles) and they sell the growlers. I’d pay for a 6 pack. But I refuse to pay for a 4 pack of anything. This is why I usually don’t drink Dogfish Head beers. Because everything they sell is in a 4 pack. Sorry. Not gonna happen. So do I agree with the sale practices of this beer? NO. Do I absolutely LOVE this beer? HELLS YEAH! The prices are more steady if you get the growler filled or the 4 packs directly from the brewery located on Piedmont Highway in Greenville, SC. But if you can’t get to brewery or you aren’t close, then just search it out and find it for this price.

Pours reddish brown with quickly dissipating head. Malty, sweet aroma. Malty, hoppy, sweet barley wine type taste. Not a traditional IPA. Very smooth, well balanced taste. Excellent beer but is not exactly categorized correctly. This is a sweet, malty barley wine.

One of my absolute favourites. I could drink this all day. To bad it’s so strong I’ll probably pass out after a couple.

Bottle. Pours a reddish brown with a light brown head. Aroma is pear, brown sugar, toffee, earthiness, and hints of alcohol. Flavor is toffee and caramel upfront and then pear and hints of grapefruit. Very similar to a barley wine instead of an double IPA. Mouthfeel is initially sweet and semi heavy and then hop bitterness takes over and lingers. Very enjoyable as a slow sipper as I view it more of a barley wine, an excellent one at that.

Poured from a growler a nice caramel brown color, not much carbonation but good lacing. Smell is sweet malt and a bit boozy. Taste very malty almost like a barley wine with nice caramel undertones. After flavor has a little bit of hop bitterness. Very tasty.

UPDATED: MAR 30, 2008 Poured a pint from a keg of this beautifully red, brown golden colored beer in to a Sam Adams glass. With a heavy hops smell of citrus and flowery pine, this so called DIPA sits on that thin line nestled between a DIPA and an American Barley Wine. What a great place to be! First sip is overpowered by heavy malts followed by the strong hops. The 12.5% ABV is the best hidden of any beer I have tried to date. You think it is about 8 or 10% - certainly not 12.5%. What gives it away is the punch you feel after just 2 glasses. Is this the strongest beer ever legally brewed in South Carolina? It may also be the best! <P> Sierra Nevada is forcing Thomas Creek to change the name. The new name will be, "Up The Creek". I Love This Beer! Serving type: on-tap

Tap from ATLBeerDog. Hazy reddish/copper color. Sticky sweet, cotton candy, citrus hop aroma. Balanced flavor. Malt character, hop bitterness. Very enjoyable.

Appearance: Very dark. Looks like a strong ale. Aroma is sweet and hoppy. The malt really dominates between the two. Big taste! But very well balanced. This is a sweet beer, but is well balanced by ample hops. Is this really a 12.5% abv? Finishes like a 7 or 8% abv. Dangerously good. This is really a good beer and I’m happy to see a Carolina brewery finally bringing a huge IPA to the region!

Pours a dark amber color with a nice 1 cm head that lingers a bit and never completely goes away. Aroma is big and fairly complex. Lots of caramel malt, pine hops, toffee, dark fruit, grapefruit and booze. Love the taste too. Probably closer to a barleywine but not syrupy at all. Rich toffee and caramel, slight sweetness, moderate bitterness. Hops are very present too, pine, citrus, grapefruit, some spiciness. Finish has a touch of booziness but very little alcohol burn. Mouthfeel is fairly thick but still goes down very easy. Really impressed with this beer. Loved it.