Three Creeks Brewing Co. has a new year-round beer debuting in cans this month, a West Coast-style India pale ale named Dankness IPA. Notably, it’s the company’s first year-round beer packaged in 16-ounce cans, rather than 12-ounce, a format used last fall for the seasonal Cone Lick’r Fresh Hop IPA.

Dankness is also available on draft at the brewpub in Sisters, with the longer name Dankness on the Edge of Town IPA. As I’m always curious about learning the process behind new beer development, I contacted the brewery to find out more.

“(Pat) ‘Patio’ Shea is the mastermind behind this,” said head brewer Jeff Cornett via email. “Our three brewers, Ryan (McVay), Patio and I, spent last year developing new West Coast IPAs at the brewpub in the hopes that at least one or two of them would make it into our package lineup in 2023.”

“Dankness had the biggest and baddest bite of them all and our ‘hop-lover’ customers crushed it.”

The name is inspired by the Bruce Springsteen album, “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” Shea relayed the story behind the name.

“The inspiration for Dankness came from a trip back from the valley with another brewer. Being from the East Coast, I’ve always been a Bruce Springsteen fan. It just so happened that this guy was as well,” he said.

“We listened to ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ the whole way home. We talked about naming a dark beer after the album. Thinking about this last year I decided to change the style to a big IPA, switched ‘Darkness’ to ‘Dankness’ and put together the recipe.”

The beer showcases four hop varieties: Citra, Centennial, Chinook and Columbus. The latter three are considered “classic” American hops, known for their citrus and piney qualities, and are considered a staple of the west coast IPA style.

I’ve referred to West Coast IPA before, but never delved into what makes an India pale ale “West Coast.” In fact, before the advent of hazy IPA in the past decade or so, all American IPAs were West Coast IPAs. When hazy IPAs hit the scene, they were first referred to as New England-style, based on their region of origin.

Accordingly, to help differentiate the new substyle, brewers (and marketers) began referring to non-hazy IPAS as “West Coast” as a nod to where it originated.

As Jeff Alworth in The Beer Bible writes, “The designation ‘West Coast’ signals where these beers were first brewed; now they’re made throughout the country — and around the world. The most important elements are enhanced bitterness and a pronounced citrus or pine flavor, rather than the sweeter, more tropical profiles of hazy and juicy IPAs.”

I recently brought home a crowler of Dankness IPA from the Three Creeks brewpub to try the new beer. It’s 7.2% alcohol by volume with 80 IBUs.

There’s no doubt it is solidly in the West Coast category, starting with its appearance — a crystal clear, bright copper color.

The aroma is redolent with sweet citrus, a touch of light caramel, and green sticky resinous notes, evoking passion fruit, bruleed grapefruit and green herbs. There’s an orange note at the back, something akin to a bag of ripe orange with a bit of marmalade.

The flavor is where the “dank” comes into focus, with a big spicy-green bitterness that has notes of tobacco, black pepper, and a pop of cannabis. There’s a long, drawn-out bitter character, earthy and spicy and minty, with a sticky, resinous impression. As it warms, spicy citrus peel or pith becomes apparent, and the lingering minty, almost eucalyptus-like character extends into the finish.

Does it live up to its name? Yes. I found it to be compelling with excellent IPA bitterness, spicy green flavors, and citrus aromas, along with an unmistakably “dank” cannabis note.

According to Shea, the brewers “worked to refine this beer throughout seven different batches at the pub until we decided on this final version to package and take to market.” Cornett is optimistic about Dankness and the new packaging format.

“You never know until you actually put it out there for a while, but we think this is going to catch on very well,” he said.

You’ll be able to find four packs of the new cans on retail shelves beginning this month, with the draft version currently on tap in Sisters.

Tropical Fresh IPA — Deschutes Brewery 

JaPOW Japanese Lager — Boss Rambler Beer Club 

CZ AF Czech-style Pilsner — Wayfinder Beer 

Dark Side Stout — Silver Moon Brewing 

Frenz IPA: Georgetown — Bale Breaker Brewing