Von Ebert Brewing’s flagship IPA, Volatile Substance, had a great 2021. In the Oregon Beer Awards in May, it won gold in the American IPA category, edging ahead of two IPAs from Sunriver Brewing. Then in September, it followed that up by winning gold at the Great American Beer Festival in the highly competitive American IPA category as well.

And Volatile Substance was also just nominated as the Best Oregon IPA and Oregon Beer of the Year in the New School’s Best of 2021. (Disclosure: I was part of the nominations and voting for this, though I’d voted on other beers.)

I’m not even going into its awards and accolades for 2020 and 2019. The point is, it’s a good beer and is widely recognized for it.

Volatile Substance IPA is 6.9% ABV, and brewed with Mosaic and Simcoe hops.

Appearance: Orange with gold highlights at the edges, unfiltered haze to it, with two to three fingers of thick and lacy off-white head.

Smell: Dank, resinous, slightly catty, grapefruit, some pine/fir, citrus, a bale of hops.

Taste: Big, almost juicy bitterness with a sweat component; resinous, grapefruit, herbal. Toasty and clean malts as a canvas for the hops which are pungent and expressive, with some dandelion flower, pine, citrus oil. Super balanced however, no hop burn or any harsh notes.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, with a great cleanly bitter finish, dry.

Overall: Superb IPA, it earned its GABF gold (and all the rest!).