IPA

Originally posted on  November 10th, 2012

On today’s shelves, you find many different IPA, (India Pale Ale) styles. But if there becomes more and more different style then a regular IPA might be somewhat forgotten. But not here, we have Full Sail Brewery IPA, 6.0% ABV from Hood River Oregon. This is just a simple IPA, and it’s sometimes good to go back to an original. This IPA pours a light orange color with a pillowy white head that looks like vanilla ice cream. The head does stay for a little while, and some light coming through the glass. I didn’t find a whole lot of carbonation on this, but I did see nice lacing though out. The aroma on this Full Sail IPA is a big soapy lemon and citrus fruit with a hint of a grassy note. This really smells like a good typical IPA. The taste on Full Sail IPA is lemony slightly citrusy and has a faint bitter hop dryness. The mouthfeel is medium with a good amount of crispness. This IPA kind of coats your tongue a little. The finish is good crisp with a nice bitter lemon flavor that stays in your mouth. The after taste really stays around in your mouth with a nice bitter hop. This is receiving a B+ from me. A great IPA, but could have some other citrus fruits, but still good with a lemon flavor. I DO recommend this IPA, any hoppy beer lover or IPA lover would like this, even a non-IPA/Hop drinker would like this. Give this a try please! I highly Full Sail Brewery IPA. recommend Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

I had this Fonta Flora Brewery Hop Beard IPA, 6.9% on a flight board at Fonta Flora’s Optimist Hall location here in Charlotte, NC. I really enjoyed the two flights I had, and really enjoy their Hop Bead IPA so much that I took some home. Fonta Flora brews it beer in Nebo North Carolina outside Morganton. Hop Bead pours a slightly hazy yellow color with a two-finger sticky white head that leaves nice lacing behind with dry aroma of pine, some citrus fruits, and nice hoppy notes that lead into a flavor that is bitter with pine and hoppy notes with some dryness and nice hints of a citrus note. Hop Bead IPA has a dry piney finish with a somewhat similar aftertaste with faint citrus and light to almost medium mouthfeel. The citrus notes on this IPA are very faint but overall this is a good solid IPA that you can have a few pints of and not get your tastebuds fatigued. It is an A because it is not overpowering in any way and has nice easy flavor but enough to let you know it is an IPA and that’s not bad. Try Fonta Flora Brewery Hop Beard IPA I recommend it! Please enjoy responsibly!  

 

 

 

 

Originally posted April 15th, 2017. 

A few days ago I reviewed Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Torpedo Extra IPA which is the base beer for another Sierra Nevada beer, Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA, 6.7% ABV, both beers use the one of a kind Sierra Nevada Torpedo hop. Tropical Torpedo is a fairly new year-round beer. Sierra Nevada Brewing says on the back label that Tropical Torpedo is inspired by island life, and they created am IPA completely disconnected from the mainland. Tropical Torpedo pours a nice golden color with a three and a half finger of white head with some bubbles within it. The head is somewhat slow to fade into a thin white hazy top to the beer. The aroma is as topical as I was expecting, but there are some tropical notes to it, like nice pineapple, and faint mango. Didn’t get any other tropical fruits on the aroma. Tropical Torpedo has a nice fruiter taste to it from is sibling Torpedo, you get nice pineapple, some mango and little notes of papaya with some bitterness toward the middle and back of the mouth. The mouthfeel is light almost medium with a nice bitter tropical finish that sends you into an after taste of pineapple mango and very faint papaya with a bigger bitterness, but nothing overwhelming. This beer is more on the fruitier side of the IPA spectrum, which I tend to like a bit more, but it wasn’t as tropical as I was expecting it to be, but still pretty good. I give Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA a B. Some of the tropical fruits came through stronger than other and all of those fruits should have been slightly more pronounced in their flavors. But that’s not so bad that it kills this otherwise good IPA.  Tropical Torpedo is a good beer for any time of year especially spring and summer. So go and try Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Tropical Torpedo, Tropical IPA if you like fruity tasting IPAs. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Happy New Year! I’ve here Foothills Brewing Company Craft Happiness IPA Dream IPA, 6.4% ABV, and IBU of 41 which the proceeds help children achieve their dreams. Dream IPA is triple dry-hopped, yes triple, with Galaxy, Citra, & Azacca hops with a sweet malt bill. Dream IPA pours a dark yellow hazy color with a two and a quarter white head that gives off subtle sweet hoppy aromas of tropical juicy fruits. Taste on this Dream IPA is soft with nice subtlety sweet guava and mango with the usual citrus fruits with a soft bitter hop note that comes together and finishes with a nice juice bittersweet note of fruit and leaves nice lingering fruit soft bitter aftertaste with a medium mouthfeel. Well, Foothills Brewing did it again, they brew a great IPA with Craft Happiness IPA Dream IPA which I give an A+. What a well-brewed beer that everyone should try. Please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Originally posted June, 14th.

It’s here again Foothills IPA of The Month! Here is June (Prince Wally), 5.9% ABV with 60 IBUs. Foothills clams this IPA has tropical and citrus notes aplenty. Well, let’s find out. June pours a light yellow color with orange edges and a three-finger bright white head that slow to fade and leaves behind great lacing. I could see much light coming through the glass due to the murkiness of this IPA, but I did see some carbonation bubbles. The aroma on this June IPA is of melon, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon and orange with a bit of piney earthy notes. The taste is similar to the aroma; you get a bit of grapefruit and little pineapple upfront. Then you get more orange flavors in the middle with a little melon with lemon and some light lemon. At the back, you get a bigger grassy piney earthy note. This IPA isn’t all in your face bitter, but it’s more of pleasant bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium with a nice fruity bitter finish. The after taste is like a tropical/citrus fruit salad that lingers in your mouth. This Foothills IPA of The Month June (Prince Wally) is just as good as the rest of the beers in the series. I give June (Prince Wally) A. It needs a little more strength in the tropical fruit department and a tiny bit less with the citrus fruits. But that isn’t really a big shortcoming. You really can taste all of the different experimental hops used here and they all make for one heck of a fruity good IPA that isn’t all one flavored and in you face intense with hoppy bitterness. I would have this again and again. So should you! So go out and try Foothills IPA of The Month June (Prince Wally)! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

I have not had a Foothills Brewing Company Craft Happiness IPA in a long while. But recently I came across Foothills Brewing Company Craft Happiness Distance IPA, 6.1% ABV with an IBU (International Bittering Unit) of 62 and this IPA from Winston-Salem North Carolina is double-dry hopped with Simcoe, Mosaic, and Idaho 7 hops. This beer, which is part of a monthly series and the proceeds go to Benefit cyclists and runners. Distance IPA pours deep yellow color with a foamy three finger head that leaves behind beautiful thick fluffy lacing. The aroma is nice with a decent amount of citrus fruits with a bitter note hurt the nose that has a very faint pine quality to it that takes you into a citrus fruit flavor of nice orange and grapefruit with a little lemon note sneaking its way into your taste buds. There is a nice bitterness that has the faintest/lightest sweetness that finishes smooth with a nice citrus hop kick and an aftertaste of citrus hoppiness with a medium mouthfeel. Foothills Brewing Company Craft Happiness Distance IPA reminded me that Foothills brews really great awesome IPAs and Distance IPA is no different, well deserving of an A+, with nothing wrong at all with it, and please do yourself a favor and go try this awesome IPA! Please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Originally posted on December 1st, 2015

Its time again for Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month here we have November (Maddie), 7.1% ABV and 78 IBU. There is only one more month in the IPA of the Month then it will be Hop of The Month where they will showcase a different hop each month instead of a different IPA. This month IPA is brewed with a blend of Amarillo, Horizon, Chinook and experimental hops. Maddie pours a deep copper color with a four-finger bubbly yet fluffy off white head that slowly dissipates into some medium lacing around the glass. The aroma is a little more malt forward than past months IPA. You get a nice faint orange peel and hints of grassy grapefruit that leans on the earthy side. Maddie has sharp taste upfront with nice earth bready flavor surrounded by grassy and earthy yet slightly bitter fruity notes. The flavor was as wow as I was expecting it to be, but still good no less. The mouthfeel is medium with a nice bitter finish and an after taste of malted grass with hints of bitter citrus fruits. I didn’t find this to be bad; I just think that this Months IPA isn’t as good as the last couple of months. So I say this, Foothills IPA of the Month November, Maddie is a B. The balance between the hops and malts was slightly off which took this IPA down a notch. The level of bitterness was great on this though which kept it from being any worse. This month IPA does not change the fact that I love the entire series the Foothills has brewed I would have this again and do recommend trying it. So by all means go and try Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month November (Maddie) or any of the coming or previous months. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Catawba Brewing Company CLT India Pale Ale, 7.2% ABV is a double dry-hopped IPA brewed in Charlotte North Carolina hence the name CLT which is airport  nomenclature for Charlotte. CLT pours a cloudy orange color with a two-finger white head that fades quickly into the thinnest ring around the glass, giving off a bitter grapefruit l and orange aroma with a pine bitter note. Taste follows the nose with grapefruit and orange bitter flavors that have a piney note to them with a bitter tropical finish and a piney bitter orange aftertaste with a medium mouthfeel. Catawba Brewing Company CLT India Pale Ale starts off in the wrong direction then after a few sips the flavor begins to head in a good direction and becomes a grade B beer, but I don’t think I could drink more than two pints of Catawba Brewing Company CLT India Pale Ale all its flavor would overpower your taste buds but it’s not bad and one that’s worth a try. Please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!