REVIEW: Founders Devil Dancer

Today's beer has been recommended to me by a couple of readers. Founders Devil Dancer, what Founders refers to as a triple IPA. In the world of beer double and imperial usually mean the same thing. It usually means that a beer is bigger, bolder, higher in alcohol, and higher in flavor. But when a brewer bumps it up from double to triple? This must be something intense. I was able to find a very fresh bottle of this recently, it was bottled just over a month ago! One thing though. This beer is not cheap. A four pack of this beer will run you well over $20. There's a good reason for this price though. Devil Dancer clocks in at 112 IBUs and 12% ABV and it's dry hopped with a ludicrous 10 different hop varieties. I can't wait to see what I'm getting into here. To the beer!

Devil Dancer pours a beautiful dark ruby bronze color with lighter peach color highlights. As it pours it builds to a finger of nice dense head. Pretty, isn't it?

Notes of oily resinous hops dominate the aromas. There are definitely some light citrusy notes and hints at sweet toasty grain. There's also this underlying deep sweet fruitiness to add to the intrigue.

Devil Dancer is big bodied, dense, and creamy. There's a caramel malt backbone underneath here but it gets so obliterated be the absolute onslaught of hops. Oily, resinous, dank hop flavors are backed by sweet hints of citrusy tangerine, lemon, and grapefruit. There's also a really interesting dark fruit presence here of berry and plum notes.

Devil Dancer is complex for sure, but also pretty damn bruising. You taste every last bit of that 112 IBUs and 12% ABV. Very bitter and quite boozy. Non hopheads need not apply.

Devil Dancer seems to me to be more of a barleywine than an IPA. Really deep and complex. I let this beer sit out for a while to let it warm up a bit before I poured it. Even after that It still had some warming to do. As the beer warms some more the caramel body becomes more pronounced and the bitterness becomes slightly less intense. There's still a very nice lingering bitterness here. As the caramel body becomes more pronounced Devil Dancer becomes more and more barleywine like.

This beer is big, bold, intense, and intriguing. If you are a fan of the hops and don't mind when things start to get intense, check this beer out. It's pretty wild.

I would be fascinated to see what a year or two of aging would do to this beer. I imagine a lot of those big hop flavors would fall out and the complexity of the malt body would rise to the forefront. Hmm, I might have to check that out.

HD