I see to have been on a bit of an IPA kick recently and last night, inspired by a tweet from @reluctantscoop, I started yesterday evening off with a bottle of Fullers Bengal Lancer IPA. This is a beer I’d tired before at the Doric Arch, London Euston; on draught but sans-sparkler. The bottled version (which was bottle conditioned but very low on sediment) poured a sparkling golden amber with a big frothy head, although that soon disappeared. Flavour-wise it was all about the hop-bitterness on the nose and then the same again on the after-taste, but in the middle there was a lot of warm, malty flavour to get to grips with. Very well balanced, very refreshing and it compared well to the draught version. A very nice drop indeed and available at the moment in Sainsbury’s, if our local branch is anything to go by.

Having started off highly-hopped I thought I’d carry on in the same spirit and decided to crack open a bottle of M&S Staffordshire IPA. This one is brewed by Marstons (according to ratebeer it’s an alias one called ‘India Export’) and was first sold as part of M&S’s ale range re-vamp last year. Most of the notes I scribbled seem to focus on how it fared in comparison with the Bengal Lancer and although it’s still a pleasant drop it really wasn’t as impressive: paler in colour, thinner in mouth-feel, slightly sharper on the hop after-taste, but generally just not as satisfying as the Lancer, and definitely not as good as Marstons own Old Empire IPA. In fact, I’d be tempted (again) to question whether it really qualifies as a full IPA, with only 5.5% ABV and much less going for it in the flavour stakes than the style usually promises.

As I was in full hop-head mode by this stage of the evening, I carried on the theme with a BrewDog Punk IPA. This was one of the first big-hop IPAs I tried back when Blogobeer started back in 2008 and I stand by the tasting notes I posted then: big hops, “positively Saharan” dryness but very well balanced, with a rich mouth-feel and extremely drinkable as a result. It’s one of my regular favourite and I think I’ve had at least a couple of bottles of Punk IPA in the beer cupboard ever since I first tried it. Lovely stuff.

Then, to round the evening off, I delved deep into the special stash section of said beer cupboard and brought forth a bottle of De Struise-Mikkeller Ratebeer Special; a “double IIPA of 130 IBU”. This was part of a De Struise / Mikkeller / De Molen mixed case that I got from beermerhcants.com last spring. There were two bottles of this one in the case and I drank one of them quite young and I remember it being pretty much all about the bitterness. The beer I tried last night was a completely different beast though. It poured a dark amber with a thick, frothy head and a slightly sweet, biscuity aroma and another year of conditioning in the bottle has produced a much, much richer, mellower, smoother flavour-profile. The big hops were still powerfully present, but they were wonderfully tempered and kept in balance by a newly-developed dark, toffee richness and a pungent red wine character with floral, herbal, grapefruit-citrus highlights. Absolutely fantastic stuff and I was very sorry when I finished the glass; no more of this one left in the beer cupboard and I’m unlikely to see another one anytime soon…

So, of the four IPAs on show here, the Struise-Mikkeller was far and away the best but let’s face it, this one was always going to have an unfair advantage. Taking the rare Belgian/Danish brew one out of the picture, I’d have to stick with the Punk as a regular favourite, but I have to say the Bengal Lancer was quite close behind and I’ll definitely be stocking up on that one for the summer. The M&S Staffordshire IPA was okay and I wouldn’t pass up on another bottle if someone offered me one, but I don’t think it can really hold its own against the huge range of fine IPAs (or “IPA-style” beers) on the market today.