Ölbeat 031: Hiisi Humulus Lupus DIPA

Brewery: Panimo Hiisi
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9 %
@RateBeer

A wolfly brew from the wilderness?

Panimo Hiisi is an old acquiantance since Loviatar review (Ölbeat 020). Humulus Lupus is described to have been brewed by "outrageously abusing a myriad of hop plants". The name of the beer is a word play with the latin names of hop (Humulus Lupulus) and wolf (Canis Lupus). When we get a douple/imperial IPA with that kind of predatory label, we should expect a hop explosion, shouldn't we? Let's cut the crap and get to the business, then.

What about the beer?
Colour is thick orange with tiny whiteish head. Aroma gives first grapefruit and then sweet fruits like mango and pineapple. Taste is nicely sweet malty and bitter hoppy not in a sharp and aggressive but in a slowly growing and strengthening way. Palate adds citrus, fruits and some piny notes. Bitter aftertaste lasts pleasantly long.

This one's a gentle beast. It doesn't chew your head off with the first bite, but instead waits its prey let one's guard down and then makes a gentle smooth kill. The palette of flavours wasn't expected: I thought this one would be a mean hop attack but got something a lot better.

Ölbeat

As usual, the Hiisi brewers recommend some music with the beer: this time it's a Finnish band called Maj Karman Kauniit Kuvat. As usual, I don't give a shit. Instead, I try to piss them off with a song which literally has someone growing on someone:

The Darkness: Growing on Me (YouTube)

From the 2003 album, Permission to Land, the song was written by the band members Hawkins-Hawkins-Poullain-Graham. It represents the purest sound of The Darkness - guitar-riff led glam rock with Justin Hawkins' recognisable high tenor vocals. Probably the band's reputation of having fun and making music tongue in cheek is the reason why the song's lyrics have occasionally been misinterpreted to refer to pubic lice or STD's. According to singer-guitarist Justin Hawkins the song is really about a woman that you will never understand, but you love her so much that you'll get over it. Humulus Lupus got matched with the song not only because of the 'growing' thing but also because the beer was fun to enjoy.