Wooden Hill Brewing Company has released Bitter Ascension, a West Coast IPA and the third beer in a series that started with Batch 666 and continued with Bitter Summons. The Edina, Minnesota brewery says this one builds on the same bitter foundation as its predecessor, adding Amarillo to an already substantial dry hop of Simcoe, Centennial, and Columbus.
According to Wooden Hill, the Amarillo addition brings a fresh burst of bright orange and citrus to the dank, resinous hop character that defined Bitter Summons. The ABV lands at 6.66 percent, keeping the series' numerology intact across all three releases.
Thinking about the hops and flavor profile
Simcoe, Centennial, and Columbus is a classic West Coast IPA foundation - piney, resinous, and bitter by design, the kind of hop bill built to punch rather than to hide behind haze. Layering Amarillo on top of that base is a fairly deliberate move: Amarillo tends to bring bright orange and a lighter floral note that can sit on top of a heavier resinous backbone without smoothing it over, which fits with the brewery's own description of the beer staying "clear, dank, citrusy" rather than softening into something rounder. Adding a fourth hop late in a three-beer series, rather than repeating the exact same bill, suggests Wooden Hill treated Bitter Ascension as an escalation rather than a rerun - which lines up with a series that has been building toward a peak by name alone.
Bitter Ascension is available now on tap and in cans to-go at the Wooden Hill taproom in Edina.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.