I received a package from 10 Barrel Brewing this week with a sneak peek of a new (re)branded product line the company is introducing—and late yesterday the official email hit my inbox. The short version: 10 Barrel is rebranding its main year-round IPA lineup under a new HopBurst Family label.

Essentially, the brewery is applying the “hop bursting” method to its IPAs, and in this case, that means Apocalypse IPA, Cloud Mentality Hazy IPA, and All Ways Down Double IPA. (There’s a new one coming soon as well, more on that below.) Hop bursting, as a method, is essentially only hopping the beer toward the end of the boil—no bittering hops—and to get the intense flavors and aromas you want into the beer, you need to use a lot of late-addition hops.

The marketing email touches on this a bit:

What makes HopBurst a family? All four beers are now uniquely amplified with “hopbursting”—a technique that involves dumping loads of hops into each batch at the end of the hopbursting process to enhance flavor and aroma. Each member of the new HopBurst Family offers the same delicious taste as before, but with enlightened hops, less bitterness and a whole new look!

It’s not a new technique (GoodLife Brewing, for instance, was doing this when it opened in 2011, and in 2014 Jeff Alworth looked into it), and it’s not entirely clear to me if 10 Barrel has switched its brewing process for these IPAs over to what I’ll call “full hop bursting” (no bittering hops at all), or supplementing their current processes/recipes with the big late addition hop charge.

I should note, also, that the brewery’s page calls hop bursting a “brewing hack,” which seems a bit disingenuous since it’s been in use for decades at this point.

Regardless, the box I received contains three six-packs of each of the mainstay IPAs I listed above, brewed with the hop bursting method and sporting the new HopBurst Family branding, as well as an extra box containing small jarred samples of each primary hop used in those beers, along with a can of the next HopBurst family beer to come out in 2024, Juicy Drama Imperial IPA.

The marketing material indicated that Juicy Drama info is embargoed, but I see it mentioned in the video on the HopBurst page and, well, I have a can to sample. (Presumably if it’s not coming out until next year, this is a test batch.) I don’t have any more info on it but I’ll include it with the others when I drink to review them.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of these photos of the box and the beers that were sent.