Head Bangers

Tried this new Siren beer last weekend, it's a collaboration between Siren (Finchamstead) and Green Cheek (USA) and is labelled as a "Triple IPA", meaning, it's got three times as much stuff in it as a normal IPA (roughly) Not only does this mean a mountain of flavorsome hops but also a very large malt bill and therefore a very high alcohol hit. It weighs in at 11.2%, putting it firmly in wine territory. Normally beer at that lofty altitude would taste horrible, cloying and boozy (i.e. special-brew) but because of the sheer quantity of hops used the result was amazingly well balanced, if you gave me this blind I'd have said that it was maybe 6 or 7% only and pretty tasty! Of course the effect on the brain (and speech cohesion) of drinking a 440ml can of this beer is roughly the same as drinking half a bottle of red, although the beer seemed to have more impact than drinking half a bottle of wine (probably food consumption might have something to do with that), suffice to say I only had the one can! Interesting as a taste experiment but, nice as it was, probably not something I'd drink regularly, more something for the hardcore head-bangers out there.