Beer: Sparklepuff, Galaxy Starfighter Defender of the Universe
Brewery: Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery (Barrie, Ontario)
Style: IPA – Triple
10.2% ABV / 34 IBU

This brewery’s slogan is “Normal is weird,” so you can be assured that nothing is quite what it seems even when Flying Monkeys is working with otherwise straightforward styles. The Ontario craft operation has also made a name for itself by pushing the limits with supremely boozy beers like the 10% ABV milk stout the Chocolate Manifesto, which features three types of chocolate and five different malts and some other stuff that you won’t really pay much attention to because it just slides down your gullet.

Thankfully, Sparklepuff, Galaxy Starfighter Defender of the Universe is available in 16-oz cans because the brewery’s first foray into Triple IPAs is no joke. You’d be temped to crack open another can after 12-oz, but a full imperial pint is guaranteed to wreck you. The nose—offering hints of fragrant peach, aided by the introduction of fresh peach puree during fermentation—is extremely mellow and doesn’t really offer any hints about the strength of the beer. The sweetness comes as the TIPA opens up, and also as you get further towards the bottom of the can, where the sediment from the peach puree collects and makes for a very occluded pour.

But it’s the wooliness of Sparklepuff that sells it—it’s a great experience for hop heads. This TIPA is also triple dry-hopped with three different types of hops at four-day intervals during the fermentation phase. Dry-hopping will automatically create a more concentrated hop flavor, and triple dry-hopping with unmistakable flavors like Simcoe and Idaho 7 make for a very concentrated, very dank bouquet. If anything, this Flying Monkeys Triple IPA could go even further to the extreme of bitterness with, say, lupulin powder or cryo hops, but it’s pretty damn tasty for something that basically looks like muddy water from the Mississippi River delta.

For more info on Flying Monkeys please head here