Auto-Immolation Comes Back Rebuilt Around Zappa

A hazy double IPA Adroit Theory had not brewed in over a year, run back through the process the brewery uses now. The brewery is calling it an update rather than a reissue.

Style: Hazy Double IPA
Release Date: 2026-09-24
ABV: N/A
Adroit Theory Brewing Company (Purcellville, VA)

Adroit Theory calls Auto-Immolation a hazy classic, which is a fair description of a beer the Purcellville brewery had not actually made in over a year. It returns this week, and the brewery is careful to frame it as an update rather than a straight rerun.

The distinction it draws is about process. Adroit Theory says it has taken the recipe and run it through the way it brews now, which produces what it describes as generous haze with minimal perceived bitterness. The malt body is light and fluffy, by the brewery's account, with a silky mouthfeel underneath aromas of freshly cut mango and juicy peach.

That is the house style the brewery has been sharpening all year, and it is worth noting what it costs to apply it retroactively. A recipe written more than a year ago was built for a different set of habits, so bringing it forward means the beer that comes out is not really the beer that went in. Adroit Theory is not pretending otherwise.

The hop bill is Citra, El Dorado and Zappa, double dry-hopped. The first two are a familiar pairing for stone fruit and tropical character, with El Dorado in particular leaning toward peach and candied citrus. Zappa is the odd one out. It is derived from neomexicanus, a wild North American hop species rather than the European lineage behind most commercial varieties, and it contributes a savory, herbal note that reads as spice more than fruit. Against a soft, low-bitterness base, that is the detail doing the balancing work.

Auto-Immolation is available now in Purcellville in pours and cans, with three cases packaged.

Editor’s Take

Zappa is the hop I keep coming back to here, because it has no business being in a beer that lists mango and peach as its headline aromas. It is bred from neomexicanus, the wild American hop, and it tends to arrive with a savory, herbal, faintly chili-adjacent streak that sits at an angle to everything Citra and El Dorado are doing. Put it underneath a stone fruit beer and it works as seasoning rather than fruit - the pinch of something sharp that keeps the sweetness honest.

Which is a sensible thing to reach for when you are updating a year-old recipe rather than simply reprinting it. A brewery that has spent twelve months getting better at soft, fluffy, low-bitterness hazies could easily end up with a beer that tastes like a dessert menu. The wild hop is the thumb on the other side of the scale.

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.