Dogfish Head's Squall IPA is by far the best IPA to be released this year. I have no qualms in stating this. Without getting geeky on you, I'll just say - it's a really smooth, really pleasant and not overpowering India Pale Ale. Seek it out while it's still available.
While originally released in May of 2009, I don't remember this reaching the West Coast until this year...and it was well worth the wait. What makes Squall a rock-solid IPA? It's a bottle-conditioned version of DFH's 90-Minute IPA and something about that process works. While 90-Minute is overly sweet and maybe a little over carbonated, there is something about the bottle conditioning that makes Squall a very smooth drinking IPA. Not too bitter, not too sweet and not too carbonated. They really hit the mark. So go grab a bottle of Squall IPA at your local craft beer store or BevMo. You'll thank me.
The beer geek in me thinks back to last year when first tasting Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA and how excited I was then. While Squall is decidedly different than Sculpin, it ranks right up there in quality -- and in fact, being that it's not a perfumey IPA, it's much superior.
