Tower 20 Double IPA - Karl Strauss Brewing Company

Jason

Massachusetts

3.58/5  rDev +2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

22oz brown bomber with no freshness date.

LOOK: Clear amber, think high rise of foam

SMELL: Ripe clementine pulp, leafy, herbal, pineapple rind, clean alcoholic esters, biscuity

TASTE: Creamy, bigger body, smooth, alcohol, hop resin, bitter, ripe tropical fruit, citrus rind, peppery, rose water, bread crust, white cherries, bitter finish

This is a massive beer, not the biggest but more inline that the alcohol and hops are extremely expressive / in your face. Only serious hopheads should take this one on.

Serving type: bottle

07-03-2012 00:28:37 | More by Jason

HalfFull

California

3.4/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bomber poured into a globe glass. Pours goldenrod with a touch of orange haze and offers a half inch of whitish foam. Moderate retention and some artsy lace.

Aroma of malt and some resinous hops, giving way to a notable orange citrus underbelly. Bit of caramel and yeast. Fairly well integrated but not overly robust in the hops department, yet the ABV is well cloaked behind the somewhat malty delivery.

Flavor is more neutral with some pale malt and just a hint of caramel and with a spicy hop character. Bit of citrus spice on the finish and with a moderate lingering yet soft bitterness. Malt is obvious but not overdone but gets a bit rich over time.

Feel is slick and a bit oily with orange and a bit of caramel. Carbonation is lighter than the pour might suggest but firms up a bit with warming. Overall a decent brew that improves with warming and worh a visit.

Serving type: bottle

06-10-2012 05:45:29 | More by HalfFull

tobelerone

New Jersey

3.9/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I enjoyed this beer a good deal more than the BA consensus, it seems. Perhaps I got a particularly fresh bottle (thanks ChefBergo for the extra), but this was a good, though certainly not great, DIPA. It looks great; lightly hazed burnished orange color; fluffy white head, good retention and lacing. Very much a citrus forward nose; lots of orange or tangerine, as well as lemon and grapefruit, with some sweet caramel maltiness blending in well.

The flavor is also quite citrusy; surprisingly so, with prominent tangerine notes as well as the aforementioned lemon and grapefruit. True there is a prominent malt character to this beer, one that’s not so much in keeping with the typical San Diego style, but it didn’t seem overbearing or outshine the hop character. Lightly sweet caramel flavor and middle-of-the-road bitterness. Finishes semi-dry. I could see how this one might lean towards the overly malty if it wasn’t very fresh but my bottle certainly didn’t have that problem. Booze is well-hidden

The body is medium-full and carbonation is just a touch under medium; there’s a little bit of creaminess and stickiness to the mouthfeel. Overall this felt pretty spot-on. Again, not a great one and won’t outshine the truly outstanding hoppy beers from the region but this wasn’t bad at all. We had this in a side-by-side with Drake’s Hopocalpyse and preferred this by a small margin, much to our surprise. Worth a shot.

Serving type: bottle

06-06-2012 03:40:46 | More by tobelerone

kevinho2

California

2.43/5  rDev -30.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

Serving Type: Bottle, and poured into a proper glass, decent head

Appearance: Amazing amber color with a nice head

Smell: This is where things go wrong. Double IPA from San Diego??? No way, this smells like a hopless malt bomb. This is not what a double IPA should smell like.

Taste: This is not an IPA in the San Diego style much less a 2XIPA. There is a bitterness to combat the sweet malty flavor, but there are no piny, citrus, or floral notes. SDIPA, no way!!

Mouthfeel:Decent to good mouthfeel. It feels like the DIPA style, but it does not follow through with taste or smell

Overall: Not my thing. Taste it for your self. I wish Karl Strauss Brewing the best, they are getting creative again which i support 100%! Keep Brewing!!

Serving type: bottle

06-01-2012 20:58:04 | More by kevinho2

Nugganooch

California

2.93/5  rDev -16.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Bomber to pint glass
*Consumed on 05-12-12

A: Tower 20 pours an amber color that is caramel-orange, almost copper hued, displaying some excellent clarity. Big froth of ivory foam head. Some sporatic patches of dots and lace.

S: Pronounced caramel malt aroma. Sugary grains with some super faint underlying pine and florals. An unfortunate precursor of things to come.

T: Balance is malt forward with a heavy handed use of Crystals. Caramel sweet malty bread and just lacking the hops to counter. Does have a moderate bitterness level. With a bit of work I can pull out some hop flavors by way of pine and orange fruit. The alcohol asserts itself in the finish. This is just plain not good. In dire need of a much dryer finish and absurd amount of dry hops to counter the malty sweetness here.

M: Medium heavier body or at least seemingly that way from the sugary malts. Finish is a bit wet with some slight sticky residuals.

D: A caramel malt bomb if that is to your liking but just not the DIPA for me. I expect much more from a founding San Diego brewery.

I don't know how Karl went wrong here. Tower 10 is such a nice IPA and as others have stated this is not a double take on that beer.

NOT worth hoarding!

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2012 16:45:42 | More by Nugganooch

srandycarter

California

3.6/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Got very curious when I saw the Tower 20 come out.

A- Pretty copper, fair off white head, some cling.

S - Bandaids. Hops. Malt underneath it all.

T - Large malt caramel center, wrapped by hops.

M - Medium body, good carb, ok balance.

D - Nice offering. Def. sessionable.

Serving type: bottle

05-06-2012 04:27:59 | More by srandycarter

LegalBrew87

California

2.35/5  rDev -33%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 22oz bomber into a tumbler.

A - Pours a really nice burnt orange/amber color with a two-finger tan head. The head lingered for a minute or two and then completely receded. Great lacing.

S - Really disappointing. I was hit first with sweet, carmel malt and some yeast, and almost zero hoppy pine/citrus. You can obviously tell hops are in there somewhere but they were definitely not at the forefront like I would expect from a big DIPA.

T - Again, disappointing. The malt is way out of balance and this tastes more like a strong brown ale than anything else. Very bready and yeasty with very mild bitter overtones. Almost no citrus, pine, or any other flavor profile one would normally attribute to a DIPA.

M - Decent, smooth mouthfeel but lacking carbonation. Not too syrupy despite it being overwhelmingly malty and sweet.

D - Very drinkable for the 9.5% claimed on the label. However, there are many other beers I would enjoy drinking over this one. Including many that are much more bitter with a lower ABV.

O - I don't know if I got a bad bottle or what. There is no "bottled on" date that I can see, but I just bought the bomber yesterday. I get where Karl was trying to go with this one, but the malt is out of control. I appreciate a nice malty balance in a strong DIPA, but this was malt forward, middle, and end. I would not buy this again, especially in light of all the other "west coast" IPAs I have access to.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2012 01:31:05 | More by LegalBrew87

BucannonXC5

California

4.08/5  rDev +16.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Poured from a 22-oz. bomber into a pint glass. About two fingers of head. Color was caramel honey toffee. Brownish white lacing with some bubbles on the top. Wet, uneven and sporadic film on the sides.

Smelled lemon citrus hops up front. Also some lime piny notes in there. Sweet floral notes. Fairly malty, but still refreshing on the nose.

Very balanced taste, could hardly taste the alcohol. Lemon citrus hops really came through here. The maltiness seemed to balance the citrus hops out. So smooth.

Medium body. Average carbonation. Slight bitter, but smooth finish. Refreshing feeling.

Really liked this beer as I do with most of the ones from Karl Strauss. Smoot h and very drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2012 04:59:36 | More by BucannonXC5

DRen323

4.55/5  rDev +29.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Without a doubt this instantly became my favorite IIPA. Its not overly hoppy for an IIPA which was nice and it had a nice taste from the get-go. It was smooth, tasted great and I will definitely be going back for another 22 oz of this. I am not sure why others thought this was boring but its not. Its true that its not real hoppy others like others mentioned but dont let that prevent you from trying it. My wife who also likes IPAs like I do could taste the alcohol and wasnt a big fan of the 20 although she does like the tower 10.

Serving type: bottle

03-11-2012 05:11:14 | More by DRen323

largadeer

California

3.03/5  rDev -13.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Bottle from Fred. Thanks, Fred. This was bottled about a week ago.

Appearance: Dark amber body with great clarity, topped by a lasting frothy head. Looks fine, but it's too dark for the style, as though copious amounts of crystal malt were used; an ill omen.

Smell: Smells like...malt. Very sweet, very crystal malt dominant. Pretty clean yeast profile. Some orange and grapefruit hop character, subtle floral notes. Surprisingly bland for a 9.5% DIPA.

Taste & mouthfeel: Sweet caramel malt with some breadiness. Pine and grapefruit hop flavors buried beneath layers of syrupy malt. Mild finish, not much bitterness or bite. Alcohol is well hidden, which is fairly impressive I guess.

Overall: Incredibly boring and blah, but very clean and expertly brewed. Just a completely lackluster recipe.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2012 19:41:31 | More by largadeer

HopHead84

California

3.2/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

3/8/2012

Bottle picked up at Karl Strauss Sorrento Valley for $9.50, which is probably 50% more than it will retail for, if history is any indication. I couldn't be happier with the situation. Snifter.

A: Very dark orange and completely transparent with a mountain of beige froth. The head lasts for a minute and yields scattered lacing.

S: Pronounced bread and sweet caramel blend with orange, grapefruit, and tangerine flesh aromatics. It reminds me of an IPA from the Northwest. Pine resin is evident. This is the definition of balance.

T: Very malty. Bready sweetness is balanced by soft orange and grapefruit notes. Caramel makes an appearance. This is not only excessively malty, but the hops are pretty dull as well. It's also a little too alcoholic in the late palate through the finish.

M: Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Overall: This is not a Tower 10 take on a Double IPA. It's much maltier than I expected. I was definitely hoping for a much drier beer and not a Northwest style Double IPA. This comes across as bland and uninspired with excessive use of Crystal malt. It's not terrible, but with the hoppy choices I have in San Diego a beer grasping for mediocrity is one I will not buy again.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2012 03:34:43 | More by HopHead84

rawfish

California

3.65/5  rDev +4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Careful pour nets a rocky two finger high head of off white foam. Retention is near infinite, got to the bottom of the glass and the head was still nearly half a finger. Leaves some sticky lacing on the glass.

Pretty even battle between malts and hops, a touch bready that moves towards sweet honey and blends seemlessly into tangerine, orange and pine resin. Centennial hops add earthy tones. Overwhelmingly orange citrus, earthy and sweet.

Crystal malt provides alot of heft in the malt bill along with sweet rolls, and honey. Hop profile is strong orange citrus and pine, not overly resinous, good bitter kick but the finish is quickly overwhelmed with some abrasive solvent alcohol. Dries well in the finish with some bitter pine and residual caramel sweeteners.

Medium bodied, adequate carbonation and very smooth going down. Loss of some points for alcohol rearing its head on the end of the drink and a rather stick sweet mouth coating.

Pretty decent beer, the parts are all there but it's delivered in parts, malt, hops, booze. Could be a bit tighter. Perhaps a bit overly sweet as well though I'm not bothered by it, Karl Strauss does a good job keeping the ABV down in the nose and the head retention is amazing.

Serving type: bottle

03-08-2012 04:39:55 | More by rawfish

UCLABrewN84

California

3.18/5  rDev -9.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

On tap for the 4th Annual LA Beer Week Beer Festival at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA.

Pours a slightly hazy orange with a foamy tan head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, and citrus zest. Taste is much the same with a candy-like sweet flavor on the finish. There is a mild hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer that smells better than it tastes.

Serving type: on-tap

10-03-2012 03:33:39 | More by UCLABrewN84

mactrail

California

4.33/5  rDev +23.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Sensationally spicy. Rich, tangy, and full of aromatics. So hoppy, but so much more floral and spicy than it is bitter. Sweet and malty but with a tanginess. More like sweet orange than the usual citrus of IPAs. However, it swings into balance with the sharp flavors against the flowers and malt. Golden amber in the glass. Nice lacing.

Brewed for the reopening of the La Jolla location after remodelling this summer. Supposed to be a double version of Tower 10 IPA. In any case it's my favorite DIPA this year. Loads of hops but missing the crazed bitter payback.

Serving type: on-tap

10-28-2011 03:39:52 | More by mactrail