Earlier this year, Hop Valley Brewing of Springfield released and sent me its Triple Double Imperial IPA pack—a mixed six-pack featuring three of the brewery’s imperial IPAs, including its flagship Alpha Centauri, Cryo Stash, and Stash Bandicoot Imperial Hazy.

I’ve already reviewed Stash Bandicoot, last year with the company’s Haze for Daze pack; it’s an 8% ABV imperial, brewed with Citra, Ahtanum, and Chinook hops. It’s a fruity hazy, especially in the aroma, and for my overall note I wrote, “Overall a nice drinker, and remarkably mild for a double IPA which could get you into trouble.”

Let’s get into the others!

Alpha Centauri Imperial IPA

This has long been Hop Valley’s flagship, a beefy imperial IPA with 9% ABV with 100 IBUs and billed these days as a “Northwest imperial IPA.” The website’s brief description says:

Big flavor, intense pine and citrus aromas dominate this brew. We keep the malt profile clean in this Imperial IPA to let the love lights shine on the fine NORTHWEST hops.

Alpha Centauri was first brewed in 2010. I don’t know what hops are used but for pine and citrus I’d at least guess some of the classics—Centennial and Cascade.

Appearance: Orange color with a bit of haze and a pile of creamy off-white foam.

Smell: Big citrus and pine notes, pineapple upside down cake, floral alcohol esters, resinous spiciness with tangerine and citrus oil. Sweetly alcoholic but not hot.

Taste: It’s big in the flavor as well, with a stiff bitterness full of hop oils that stays somewhat tempered and evokes bitter greens at the back. Herbal, piney, a bit of sweet malt and alcohol countering the bitterness. Pretty solid, clean for as big and hoppy as it is.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full-bodied with a long lingering hop bitterness; clean.

Overall: Pretty solid, if standard, imperial IPA.

Cryo Stash Imperial IPA

Cryo Stash is one of the company’s newer beers, brewed (as you might expect) with Simcoe Cryo Hops. The website says:

Cryo Stash brings the power of imperial and intensity of Cryo Hops® to an incredibly smooth ale that will saturate your senses with passion fruit, mango, and orange hop character that’s balanced by a candied cracker malt goodness

It’s 8.7% ABV with 40 IBUs, and other hops used are Ekuanot and Citra.

Appearance: Copper-gold color, clear and bright. Lacy white head.

Smell: Subtle fruit note of (I think?) fresh papaya, or maybe dried/candied papaya. Really clean and mild aroma, surprisingly, for an imperial; I am getting some sweet citrus notes, maybe sweet orange marmalade.

Taste: Tropical fruit flavors and sweetness aligning with what I detect in the aroma—papaya, orange marmalade, candied grapefruit, candied orange peel. Some sweet and warming alcohol notes, mild bitterness, cooling herbal/minty character.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, quite clean, smooth.

Overall: At 8.7% ABV it’s too easy to drink, that is to say, tasty and not very “imperial” IPA-like (which could make this a dangerous one that sneaks up on you!).