Scorpion Double IPA - The Tin Whistle Brewing Company

zachloveshisbeer

3.76/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A pretty good example of an IPA, but maybe not the hop bomb I expected from the label. The brewer Jeff gave me a poster that indicated it was 8.9% alc./vol., but the bottle I got was 8% - not that there's anything wrong with that. It poured a lovely hazy golden ruby colour and the aroma spilled from my glass, but not overall hops as I expected, but sweetness and maltiness I would expect from something like an Oktoberfest. It was very drinkable and very pleasing, but just not the "kick in the chops" and "sting on the tongue" I expected. Something to pour for someone just getting into Amercan IPA's.

Serving type: bottle

01-09-2013 21:06:19 | More by zachloveshisbeer

BigBry

Alberta (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

05-04-2013 12:16:19 | More by BigBry

bumchilly25

British Columbia (Canada)

3/5  rDev -12.3%

04-06-2013 22:36:29 | More by bumchilly25

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

3.45/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

650ml bomber poured into tulip 26/3/13

A clear copper with just a few bubbles feeding a finger of cream colored foam that sits for a few sips and leaves a couple patches of random lace

S loads of melon, brown sugar, and lots of caramel malt, there's a little citrus but mostly sweet melon, with a hint of booze

T more of the same really, more malt then hops and a little sweet, again I'm getting loads of melon with some orange rind I wasn't smelling

M a little syrupy and slightly creamy from the bubbles, a little heat and slick after the fact

O pretty basic, nothings wrong with it but its missing a little something, the malt base isn't letting the hops take charge

meh? I doubt I'd buy it again but if you like a malty backbone in a DIPA this one might work for ya

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2013 02:32:31 | More by wordemupg

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

3.68/5  rDev +7.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

650ml bottle, been a while since we've seen anything new from this brewery over here in Alberta - nice to see that this is what they've recently come up with. What happens when you face this off with the Rattlesnake ESB?

This beer pours a clear medium copper amber hue, with three flabby fingers of puffy, densely foamy off-white head, which leaves some random swaths of thick patchy lace around the glass as it quite slowly retreats. One looker of an IPA, I must say.

It smells of sweet biscuity caramel malt, candy sugar, mild floral yeast, citrus cream, muddled wet pine needles, and a slight herbal grassiness. The taste is more hefty sweet caramel malt, a prominent biscuity toffee character, rising yeast, juicy blood orange citrus rind, softly acerbic pine resin, a hallow mixed berry fruitiness, and some herbal tincture notes.

The bubbles are generally quite sedate, providing the basic starter package and no more, the body an adequate medium weight, and smooth enough - no pesky hop intruders here, boyo. It finishes well off-dry, the sugary caramel malt facing enough nondescript hop dryness in the form of a duly neutered bitterness, to prevent this from going totally off the tracks.

I want to like this properly, I really, really do. However, the label's proclamation of 'Big, Bold, Extreme' really only hits on one of those three cylinders in this particular motion machine - i.e. not really much in the way of the so-called bold or extreme hops expected for the style. Enjoyable for what it is, but a bit too lacking in the expected assertiveness, I'm afraid.

Serving type: bottle

03-24-2013 03:09:50 | More by biboergosum

KalanM

British Columbia (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

03-16-2013 01:14:20 | More by KalanM

smekermann

British Columbia (Canada)

2.05/5  rDev -40.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

I'm gonna skip the whole breakdown thing so popular in BA reviews and get straight to the point. This beer tastes like babbys first homebrewed double IPA. To call this an "American Double/Imperial IPA" is kind of an insult to the genre, really.

I saw this beer in a BC Liquor Store and since it was brand new and featured such claims as "BIG. BOLD. EXTREME" and the one gushing review on here, I figured I'd give it a shot thinking it'd be at least a decent hoppy IPA. It's not. It's malty as hell, with the faintest hop presence in both mouthfeel and taste. The aftertaste is slightly metallic and really... off. It doesn't even feel malty on the palette, just metallic. It's obvious these guys have no clue how to brew a proper IPA, much less a double IPA, so the label hype of it being BIG. BOLD. EXTREME is pretty offensive in retrospect. Derek, seriously, bro, if you think this is a good hoppy IPA, I'm curious what you think of beers like Fat Tug, Central City IPA and Russell's Hop Therapy.

Given that it has an anemic hop presence and plenty of malts in the initial mouthfeel (ignoring the horrible metallic aftertaste), you might be thinking to yourself "hey, this mite be a good English IPA, I'm a big fan of English IPAs, I should check this out because it seems right up my alley." You'd be horribly wrong. It's not even a good English IPA. There are much better BC beers in that genre: Coal Harbour's offering is probably the best English IPA brewed in BC, Spinnaker's has a couple English IPAs that are pretty good, Howe Sound, etc. There's literally no reason to try this beer out, unless you're some sort of beer masochist. It's a worthless outing in a style that's just saturated with good beer. Do yourself a favor and skip this.

edit: apparently Derek really liked Hop Therapy. There was something either horribly wrong with his bottle of SCORPION IPA or mine, then, because this beer tastes like alcoholic cancer.

Serving type: bottle

12-25-2012 00:49:43 | More by smekermann

Coastal_Brew

British Columbia (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%

07-22-2012 13:56:00 | More by Coastal_Brew

Derek

British Columbia (Canada)

4.1/5  rDev +19.9%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A: Copper with a off-white head, some retention, leaves some great lace.

S: Pine, grapefruit rind and grass, slightly floral, with some cotton candy fruity esters and a bit of sponge toffee in the background. Not as bold as some DIPA's, but certainly nice.

T: Lots of piny resin, grapefruit rind, assertive bitterness but some sponge-toffee-like sweetness to back it up. Hints of biscuit, apricot, strawberry and pear, alcohol is subtly hidden under all this flavour.

M: Moderate body has a slight residual sweetness that leaves an off-dry finish. Definitely some hop acidity here.

D/O: I'm thinking chinook hops play a roll here, and I'm really diggin' the toffee-like malt that backs them up. Good stuff! Certainly not as brash or dry as some DIPA's, but the flavours really come together here.

I have to admit, I'm surprised by this one. Tin Whistle has brewed a few 'different' things, but not a lot to appeal to the beer geek... until now!

Serving type: bottle

05-21-2012 19:26:58 | More by Derek