Dogwhistle beer

I don't think I'd ever seen a local buzz quite like it. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Ireland's hop-chasers were all talking about Dangerously Close To Stupid by To Øl. The advantage this double IPA has over its new world contemporaries is that it's more, well, contemporary, having travelled a mere sidestep from Proef in Belgium, birthplace of so many great "Danish" beers. Having tired of reading about how amazingly fresh it was I wandered over to DrinkStore a couple of weeks ago and shelled out the €5.50 they were asking for a 33cl bottle.

Well, you know what comes next. I just didn't get the hype. I mean, it's quite nice, the highlight being a massive fresh mandarin aroma, and there's no doubting its hop credentials, laying on a thick and heavy dankness from the Citra and Centennial. But it suffers a little from the boozy heat of all that alcohol, though this is cleaned up somewhat by a sharply bitter aftertaste.

To be brutally honest this doesn't seem all that superior a beer compared to, say, BrewDog Hardcore, which is a little over half the price. Perhaps I just don't get the nuances in this most unsubtle of beer styles and would be better off leaving it to those who appreciate it more.