There’s always some irony in sampling beer…and I can say it’s almost always very good irony too. As I sit here mapping out an upcoming hiking (and beer) trip we’re planning to the desert southwest, I get a cool opportunity to sample a beer (or two) coming to us from that very area…Tempe, AZ. If that’s not enough fun, the beer is also one of my favorite styles…a Double IPA….so off we go. 
Coming to us from Four Peaks Brewing, today we’re cracking open their new Double Knot Double IPA. If you’re not familiar with this beer (and I wasn’t) it’s an imperial version of their Hop Knot IPA (see below). Double Knot is brewed with seven hop additions, and you can’t miss when you sample it. This beer uses double the amount of hops and according to Four Peaks Brewer Any Ingram, “Double Knot is the perfect beer for the person who loves a good IPA, but secretly wishes it was even hoppier.” Of course if you know me, you know I think that hoppier is always better so this one seems like my kind of beer. I’m also excited to see that Double Knot will make the leap from draft-only to 12oz bottles/six packs and it will be available in Mid-February 2017. 
Double Knot pours a deep amber/orange-ish color and the aromas lead with dank and resinous pine. After a few sniffs we also found some herbal, grassy and citrusy hops that really rounded out the aromas nicely. We found lots of grapefruit and citrus in the flavors up front with some herbal grassy notes in the middle, followed by dank and resinous at the end. If you like sticky dank and resinous double IPA’s with lots of citrus hop presence to balance the “dankiness” out (like I do), then Double Knot is right up your alley. At 9%-AbV I was expecting a prominent boozy feel to the beer, but It wasn’t terribly boozy in the end. We really liked the hoppy push this beer carried and even as it warmed, we still really liked the resinous and dank punch at the end. All in all a very nice DIPA and one I look forward to sampling in Arizona when I visit. 
As a special bonus, we also had the opportunity to sample Double Knot DIPA side-by-side with it’s little brother Hop Knot IPA. So how do they compare…well very favorably as it turns out. Hop Knot IPA leans more into some of the wonderful citrus and grapefruit aromas I really like, and it’s flavors are very similar. I found loads of grapefruit hop flavors, and while the pine is still there, it’s not nearly as resinous and sticky as Double Knot. Hop Knot IPA is a very drinkable IPA at 6.7%-AbV but the 40 IBU will get your hoppy attention. There are definitely some similar characteristics and family resemblance in both beers so I’d recommend you do sample both side-by side.
Four Peaks Double Knot DIPA is available (beginning in mid-Feb) in 12oz bottles and on limited draft so chase some down and try it for yourself. Hop Knot IPA is available year-round in 12oz bottles, 6-packs and kegs…so be sure to try both. And when you do, be sure to let us know what YOU think.
UPDATE today we have the 2018 packaging below (12oz cans & bottles):
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