Beer Review: Copperhead Brewery Striker IPA

Brewery: Copperhead Brewery
Beer: Striker IPA
Style: American IPA
ABV: 7%
Character: Profiled as intense citrus and tropical fruit.
Ratings: BA: 87 | RB: —
Metal Connection: ANNIHILATOR – Striker

BeerMetalDude Rating: 4.5/5

Back in August of 2015 to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, the wife and I went to Houston to do a weekend worth of brewery tours. One of those visits wasn’t even on our to-do list. I am talking about Copperhead Brewery, located in Conroe, TX, just north of Houston. We were at B-52 Brewing Company, when someone suggested that we check out Copperhead, a new brewery that had just opened up. That sounded perfect, as these are the breweries we love to visit; the smaller ones, or brand new ones. So, with a quick change of plans we found ourselves over at Copperhead, a brewery which we would fall in love with in a hurry. Meeting Craft Beer and Metal enthusiast, Seth Earnest, the brewmaster behind the wonderful beers here was a treat, as we conversed about a lot of things that day. Oh, and we met Winston, their amazingly cute Corgi.

Since late 2016, Copperhead Brewery beers started being distributed here to San Antonio, and that made my day, as I am now able to get their beers rather easily.

The one thing I can say that I really love is their label artwork. Their hired artist, Helen Hebenton of Uncanny Designs is an amazing artist, and really helps the beers by Copperhead Brewery pop out at you. These damn things could all be Metal album covers.This one is definitely no exception to this. The art featured here is of a bursting wooden barrel that is filled with bright green liquid, and a menacing looking snake coming out of it striking towards us. There are hop vines surrounding the barrel, and the name of the beer is written in letters looking like their made out of those vines. Very awesome artwork that pops out at you as it sits on a black background. I hope this one never changes.

Poured into a Ranger Creek Brewing IPA glass, Striker IPA appeared a clear honey golden color. It was topped with large 2 inch white foamy head, which dwindled down to a thin layer, but stayed around the entire session, leaving excellent soap suds-like lacing down the glass.

The aroma was strong with orange peel up front. Th bulk of the nose was lemon-lime, tropical fruit, like pineapple, mango, papaya, and a little guava. Some spicy pine came through as well. The malts in the background blended right in with a fresh baked bread aroma. The lingering essence was all orange peel and tropical fruit.

What I loved about this beer is that the taste followed the aroma. Strong bitter orange peel right up front, followed by lemon-lime, pineapple up with a blend of other tropical fruits like mango, papaya, and guava. There was a small amount of some pine flavor as well. The taste also had a big bready malt backbone, rounding this one out, giving it a full amount of flavor. The aftertaste was completely fruity with orange peel mixed with tropical fruits.

As with most IPA’s the body was medium in thickness. The mouthfeel was crisp, yet oily, with moderate carbonation. A dry finish complimented the lingering aftertaste of fruits and orange peel here.

Overall, I will say that I am a huge fan of this beer. With 343,456,242,456,345,645 India Pale Ale’s on the market, there will be some similarities in a lot of them, and others will just be a slight step above the rest of them. For me, this one falls into that. A fresh bottle or tap of Striker IPA is definitely one to seek out. If Copperhead Brewery is in tour area, please seek them out. They are a wonderful brewery who makes some excellent product!

Metal Connection: Sometimes there comes a band that has done so much in their career, and have secretly been putting out albums under the radar of a lot of Metal fans. Annihilator comes to mind. I have introduced this band a few times already on this site, as a couple of their other songs made the Metal Connection cut, but not because of the awesomeness of the songs chosen, but simply because the song title fit the connection. The other two songs are, well, how to pt it…. not that great!

When I found the song “Striker” by Annihilator, I was given a pleasant surprise of Thrash Metal again from this Canadian band. As I said a bit ago, the other two songs that paired with other beers were a bit strange. Not that this one doesn’t come with it’s Annihilator charm. Just listen to that weird single guitar tone at around the 2:18 mark, or the weird break and not so fitting drum solo at 2:50. These guys have always thought outside of the box, which is why I guess I kind of like them. “Striker” comes to us form their 9th studio full length album, Waking the Fury, which was released in 2002 on the label, Steamhammer. The sound on this song is pure fuckin’ Metal. After a few listens to this song, I have come to the conclusion that this is reminiscent of Judas Priest‘s 1990 album, Painkiller. Seriously, I cold hear that era of Rob Halford singing this song. Check it out for yourself!

Other reviews featuring Annihilator: