The World’s Best IPA—According To The Tasting Alliance World Beer Competition

Late last year, a panel of over two dozen category experts convened in Northern California in order to pore over (and pour through) some of the best beers on the planet. The annual gathering, known as the World Beer Competition, is run by the Tasting Alliance. If you’re not already familiar with that organization, they’re the same folks responsible for the San Francisco World Spirits Competition—often regarded as that industry’s preeminent judging.

So, clearly they know how to foam up prestige within the adult beverage sector. Which bodes well for the talented craftspeople over at MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Because the World Beer Competition has just named its Holly Days release the best India Pale Ale on the planet. The wintertime brew uses an adjunct of spruce tips to affect a poignant seasonality beyond the bitter base formed from Cascade, Chinook, Sultana and Eureka hops.

It’s not just some marketing gimmick, either. Crack open a can of the 6.8% ABV liquid and you’ll detect a pronounced piney-ness in the aroma and across the palate. It’s evocative of Christmas, to be sure, and also fits hand-in-glove with the resiny, citrus pith gliding off the precise hops recipe used for the brew.

Ultimately, however, it might be the lengthy—and unexpectedly—complex finish that curried favor with the judges at the Tasting Alliance. It tickles the tongue with an initial tang, which is almost a misdirection since the parting flavor is a drying return to that prescribed piney-ness. And who doesn’t love a good circle story? Especially one that can be shared for a retail price of $11 per six-pack.

The only thing that hopheads have to complain about with Holly Days is that, as its name suggest, this is an offering that’s only available during the festive season of November through January. In the meantime, if you’d like to explore a comparable counterpart, the fermentation artisans at MadTree produce a year-round staple called Psychopathy. It’s similar in profile, utilizing many of the same ingredients (minus those celebrated spruce tips, of course), and it’s readily available for around $12 per six-pack.

The Tasting Alliance, for its part, has a lot more exclusive news to share with us in the weeks ahead. So stay tuned for an imminent reveal of more big winners, not just in the world of beer, but in the wine and spirits sectors as well.