Ninkasi Brewing Co.
Eugene, OR
Available: OR, WA
Ninkasi Brewing began its history on June 15th, 2006 when Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge spent 17 hours brewing their first batch of Total Domination IPA in leased space inside a German restaurant in Springfield, OR.
ABV: 6.7
ABW: 5.3
Color: 7
Bitterness: 65
Original gravity: 1067
Any beer aficionado that has ever been in the Pacific Northwest knows the region’s classic IPA style; how it can nimbly strike a balance between a predominance of hops and enough malty sweetness to give it some backbone. Anybody who isn’t familiar with the style could get a quick lesson in Ninkasi’s Total Domination IPA. Although other Northwest IPAs (and others elsewhere) have more of a hop presence in the aroma, this beer gets down to business at the first sip. Biscuity malt makes the first move, quickly followed in step with lemon and grapefruit flavors. The citrus continues the Domination long after you swallow. With its lingering hoppiness, this is a beer for Northwest IPA fans, but could also be a pleasant surprise for those who appreciate a more balanced brew.
If the name’s anything to go by, this is an ambitious beer and I have no problems with that. The brewers have certainly gone for it with the hops, packing in a load of tangy resins and sweet lemon and grapefruit notes, enough to give hop junkies their fix, although I do find it all just a bit woolly. The finish is much as you’d expect — dry and tingling with bitter hops — and, summing up, it’s a pleasant enough beer. Total domination, though? That’s a little way off at present, but at least these guys are aiming high.
Morrison, aka the Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
