Sam Calagione is an innovator and a pioneer. He’s the man responsible for 60 Minute IPA, 75 Minute IPA 90 Minute IPA and 120 Minute IPA. The last beer, 120 Minute IPA is 120 IBUs and contains way more hops than the average beer drinker can possibly handle. This beer is boiled for two hours (hence 120 minutes) while also being hopped with high-alpha American hops the whole time. Afterwards, the beer is dry-hopped in a fermenter for a month before being aged for a final month with whole-leaf hops.
For years, this was the epitome of ho-heaven for me and my friends. If we were lucky enough to come across this beer on tap, we jumped at the chance to partake in its hoppy goodness. That’s why I couldn’t believe my ears and eyes when I heard and saw that Calagione had brewed a beer that made the 120 IBUs in 120 Minute IPA look like ordinary tap water by comparison.
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In November, for his online show “That’s Odd…Let’s Drink It!” Calagione, the founder and brewmaster at Dogfish Head, brewed a beer called “Hoo Lawd” that contained an insane 658 IBUs. For those who don’t understand that enormity of what I’m saying: most extremely hoppy beers stay in the 100-150 range and “Hoo Lawd” contained six times that amount.
What Are IBUs?
IBU stands for International Bittering Unit. It isn’t a scale to decide the bitterness of the beer, it’s actually a scale to figure out the amount of iso-alpha acids in the beer. These are what give the beer its bitter flavor.
Hoo Lawd
The beer was released on December 2nd, in very low quantities. Sadly, you probably won’t be able to try it because he only brewed eight kegs worth and it was only available on draft at the Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats. You might still have a chance to try it as it will also be available this spring at Boston’s Extreme Beer Fest.
Calagione says that this is the hoppiest beer ever documented. “It’s abnormally intense enough that it immediately leads to the abnormal spelling of words,” says Calagione. “As in, ‘hoo lawd I can’t seem to stop myself from taking another sip even though this is defcon-one-hoppy!” Scientist have said that the human mouth can only taste up to 120 IBUs so it might not even matter how many are in this beer. All that matter is that it’s intensely hoppy.
Hoo Lawd was made using a hop referred to as “Alpha Beast” as well as Simcoe, Amarillo and Warrior hops in CO2 extract. This 9.5% ABV American Black Ale was studied by scientists who documented that it is the hoppiest commercial beer ever made. There are other breweries that claim to have made the hoppiest beer in the world, including: Flying Monkeys Alpha Fornication that claims to be 2500 IBUs. But, Hoo Lawd is the highest IBU beer to actually be certified by scientists.
The beer was featured the previously mentioned episode of Calagione’s online TV show in an episode that featured actors Joe LoTruglio and Ken Marino. You can view that here.
