imperial ipa

You expect a lot from an Upper Franconian brewer, but hardly any internationality. The brothers Roland and Oswald Kundmüller from Weiher always surprise us. The passionate master brewers are always looking for new inspiration and are constantly reaching out for international collaborations.

That’s what happened in 2016 when they decided to team up with Matt Cole from Cleveland’s Fat Head’s Brewery. The brewers immediately clicked and became friends over the kettle. The aim of the Franconian-American collaboration was not just any IPA, but one that puts you in a good mood and “hits you,” as they say in Franconia. As in the cooperation with the Brazilian Cervejara Bamberg, hops also play a central role here. This is actually not unusual with IPA, but Matt, Roland and Oswald have turned out to be true hop artists and have once again outdone themselves.

Four hop varieties create a wonderful taste of fruity notes, rounded off by the pleasant hop bitterness and peppered with an incredible 9% vol. The latter, however, are hardly significant, as the aroma elegantly surrounds the alcohol content and makes the Imperial IPA seem much lighter than it actually is. Disastrous, because the India Pale Ale is so delicious that after one bottle you already want another one!

Weiherer and Fat Head’s Brewery prove that Germany and America are a better team than we all thought. We drink an Imperial IPA to the German-American friendship and are excited to see what other collaborations the Weiherer brothers have in mind.