Arch W-IPA is a 7.5% imperial / double IPA from Arch Brewery, based in Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi, Japan. It’s part of their regular lineup and can be found in both bottles and on tap at select places. It supposedly has an IBU of over 200, though seeing as the human palate can not differentiate past 100, you have to wonder why?
Arch W-IPA Aroma and Taste
Arch W-IPA could have been bottle conditioned, but there is nothing on the bottle to say so, hence the massive plume of frothy white head on top. That head took ages to settle before I could pour anymore into the glass. Once some beer had settled, I could make out a dark honey coloured body that was relatively clear. However, if you’re making a double IPA (I am not going to use W-IPA), then you don’t really need to add lemons to a beer – there are plenty of hops that that can do that for you. And if you are going to add lemons, make sure you remove the strange buttery, sulphur notes in the beer that mask everything else going on – that’s all that can be said about the nose. No malt sweetness, no hop citrusy bouquet – just an unresounding buttery sulphur nose.
For a beer that supposedly has an IBU of 200+, then I was expecting an explosion of bitterness in my mouth – yet all I ended up with was an explosion of butteriness once again. Where was the hop kick? How about the hop flavours? Nothing unless someone had hidden them. Arch W-IPA proved really too much to drink – perhaps it was me having been spoilt in my drinking “youth” with imports of American double IPAs, the time spent with Japanese double IPAs too had taken their toll on me. However, Arch W-IPA ended up where it belonged.
Arch W-IPA The Bottom Line
Perhaps it would work well as drain-cleaner as there was nothing redeeming about Arch W-IPA.
Where to Buy Arch W-IPA
Arch W-IPA can be bought online at the following places:
