In my most recent print article for The Bulletin, I surveyed the latest round of (local) brut IPAs. All three of those (from Crux, Silver Moon, and Wild Ride) seemed drier and more in line with what I would consider “brut” since I last visited the style back in August (also for The Bulletin). Of those, Crux’s surprised me because it was not brewed with added amylase enzyme—the brewery simply employed a very long mash.

I had also received a bottle of Brut IPA from Double Mountain Brewery out of Hood River (also relatively local) but didn’t have space in the article to include it. I did drink and evaluate it, of course, and here’s my review.

Some background on the beer first. The press release said it was fermented with French Champagne yeast, but didn’t indicate if it was only fermented with this yeast, nor if the practice of adding amylase was used. So I reached out to Marketing Director Hames Ellerbe and got the lowdown:

We fermented with both champagne yeast and our house abbey yeast in tandem. We did not use any enzymes for this brew, this is a Double Mountain take on this style.

The lack of enzyme in this beer surprises me, because—spoiler alert—this beer was the driest brut IPA I’ve had yet, and I’d say “dry” is the defining characteristic here more than any other I’ve had so far. The beer is 7.1% ABV and 59 IBUs.

Appearance: Crystal clear and golden colored, bright, with a fine stream of bubbles feeding a crisp, white, finely bubbled and lacy head.

Smell: Earthy hops and subtly fruity and reminiscent of champagne. A Sauvignon blanc grape note and some minerality. Apple skin?

Taste: Quite dry with a dusty earthiness that sucks moisture from your mouth. The hops take on a mineral, slightly woody bitterness that plays well with the yeast and does line up to the name, with a crisp champagne quality and herbal note. Any defining malt character has been dried out of the beer.

Mouthfeel: Quite effervescent, with medium-high carbonation buoying a medium-light body. Very dry finish, almost leaves you thirsty.

Overall: To be honest, this is probably the first beer in this “brut” style that has lived up to my expectations—bone dry (normally this is something of a cliched phrase, but in this case it truly applies), quite effervescent, crisp, nice hops that don’t get needlessly fruity.

As such, this Brut IPA gets a high mark from me, and is the best of the style I’ve tried to date. (Admittedly, though, I haven’t tried that many of them.) If you’re into bruts, seek this one out.