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It is not everyday that you can treat yourself with some heavy imperial styled beers. It is not often that breweries attempt these brews, and even less do they sell them at local beer shops.

Mostly, these imperial beers or double IPAs are sold either in exclusive liquor shops, which is a rare thing in South Africa, or at the brewery themselves.

But lucky for me, I found a shop not too far from home that sells some of these more heavy hitting beers.

For this #BeerSaturday, I attempted an imperial red ale, double IPA, and a normal IPA. All three beers are brewed by the OC brewery team, in Johannesburg if I am not mistaken. One day, I will have the opportunity to visit them, but for now, I only had these three cans from a local liquor shop.

So, please join me as I go through these strong and heavy beers!

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OC Brewery's Imperial Red Ale

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Imperial Red Ale | 8% ABV | ?? IBUs

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It is not often that I listen to people who tell me what beer to buy. And this is for good reason. I have drunk 100s of different beers over the last year or two, and I have brewed my fair share of beers. And each time when I listened to someone tell me what beer to buy based on that person's preference, I have been disappointed. Not because I do not trust people, but because I know my own taste and preference, and they do not know this.

So when I bought an imperial red ale based on the tips from the owner of the shop, I was sceptical. I have a love hate relationship with red ales.

And this imperial red ale was no different; the smell was red ale par excellence. However, it was an awesome smelling beer. There was a nice fruity but yet malty smell to it, with some nice sweet and alcoholic notes lingering.

But it was 8% ABV, so it had strong alcoholic notes.

The first taste was malty, but with nice fruity sweet notes to it, but so full of malt, or malt upfront.

It was actually an incredible beer; nice and full bodied and warming due to 8 % ABV. It had all of the classic red ale characteristics but dailed up to the maximum. There was not too much carbonation and and sadly it quickly lost its head and it had almost no lacing. But overall, a solid start...

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OC Brewery's Screamer Double IPA

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DIPA | 8% ABV | 70 IBUs

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This was the one beer that I looked forward to, maybe the most. It was a new release, or so the owner told me. A limited release, at least, the owner only had about 48 beers in stock. So, if I did not buy it, he could not guarantee that I would get my hands on some if they sold out.

And sadly, I could not really buy more than one, as it was really expensive. To put it into perspective, it is about 5 times the price of a normal IPA. Yes, sometimes I do really stupid things, like pay 5 times the "normal" price for a beer. But life is short, and here we are drinking expensive beer.

The nose was fruit bomb; it was so fruity-hoppy, pine upfront. There was only a slight touch of alcoholic notes with the 8% ABV. There was some passion fruit; but I did not really get the grapefruit they talked about on the back of the can.

Funnily, my fiance says it smelled like dried guava rolls...

After the brief interlude from my fiance, I found some nice but very slight caramel malt notes.

The first taste had that classic warmth of the alcohol. It was extremely bitter; but with nice fruity flavours. The nose is not the same as the taste which is always interesting. It was really smooth and full bodied.

All things being, it was an incredibly big beer but I love it; as I drink more and more so bitter all of the other complexities went away and I just loved every sip.

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OC Brewery's Dictator IPA

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IPA | 5.5 % ABV | ?? IBUs

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The last beer was another strong contender. I am a sucker for any IPA and this one had some oats in it, leaning toward a hazy IPA, even though it was nice and clear.

What a first smell, pure pine when I opened the can. There was a slight citrus lemony note as well, but it was a pine bomb. They definitely used some citra centennial and simcoe hop blend (see on the can!).

There was a slight bitterness of the hops on the nose but also slight fruity-sweet nose.

The first sip was so refreshing and fruity, perfect blend of hops for this IPA, with a slight warmth from the ABV but not too much. There was also a slight sweetness, but also not really, no real malt taste. Either way, it was a perfect IPA beer; and I love it.

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Postscriptum

In the end, the last beer you had is always the best beer you will have! Let that sink in...

For when will you have another beer with that gravitas? That profound impact? We can die any day (not to sound too depressing) but our lives are not in our hands. To some extent it is, and in this extent to which it is, we can enjoy our beers! For, if you do not enjoy that beer you thirst for, and you will end up not drinking it, and something happens, was it really a life lived to its fullest potential? This does not mean that we need to drink ourselves into oblivion, and drink irresponsibly. Rather, it means that you need to live to the fullest!

For now, happy beer drinking, and keep well.

All of the musings and writings are my own. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.