DuClaw's Serum Double IPA

There are many reasons I decide to pick a beer out of the mass selection that is available. Sometimes it is the notoriety of the beer. Others the packaging or bottle label catch my eye, or perhaps I enjoyed the name of the brew. Seldom is there a beer where the bottle cap is the final attribute that makes me buy a beer. DuClaw's Serum was one of those beers.

I was picking out a build your own 6-pack at Total Wine, filling it with IPAs that I had not tried, when I picked up Serum. To be honest, I had heard about DuClaw before, but I hadn't tried one before. I don't know if all their caps say this, but when I read the words "Craft Be Cherished. Rules Be Damned." on the cap, I was sold. How craft beer/ punk rock is that? I'm all about breweries that push the limits of a beer and I am always down to try new things. Though there was nothing extremely out of the ordinary with this double IPA, I was not disappointed in my choice.

Poured into my IPA glass, Serum is a hazy dark gold beer with a big bubbled, one finger head. Piney, floral hops are on the nose along with a some big malt smells. Those sweet malts are very big in the flavor. They are at the forefront of this beer, but are not so powerful that they are overwhelming. Citrus hops follow the malts, and then big time bitterness wraps it up. Though not hugely set apart from the crowd, Serum's showcasing of all my favorite features of DIPAs makes it a brew that my IPA glass will contain again soon.