Pair O’ Dice The Pit Boss Triple IPA
Pair O’ Dice The Pit Boss Triple IPA clocks in at a massive 11.5% ABV with whopping 125 IBU. No package date. There seems to be a never ending supply of new breweries in the Tampa / St. Pete area of Florida these days. I got a chance to visit this relatively new Clearwater brewery during the winter holiday and came home with a few beers to check out.
The beer pours with a nearly crystal clear golden color, and a fluffy off white head. The aroma… my goodness this is to die for. This beer is so sweet and juicy on the nose, a densely aromatic combination of candied papaya, ripe orange, pineapple and sugary sweet caramel malt. One of the best smelling Double IPA’s I’ve smelled in a really long time, this is rivaling the first time I smelled Bell’s Hopslam. There is no way the taste can quite live up to the aroma, but this is still one tasty brew. The fruitiness isn’t nearly as sweet or dominating, but a good amount of sweet and tart papaya hits my palate first. Caramel malt and an almost Belgian like candi sugar flavor follows the fruit and leads to an intense combination of dank pine, hop bitterness and potent alcohol flavor. The booziness is rather big and warming and threatens to take over the drinking experience by the finish. On the verge of syrupy on the mouth-feel, but it stops short of getting to that point where it is a problem.
This is one of the more expensive beers I’ve picked up in a while at $19.99 for a four pack!!!! The Pit Boss isn’t something I could afford to drink often, but it is worth the price just for the aroma alone.
