Birdsong Brewing Company Hazy Sexy Cool IPA

Posted on by Evan

Birdsong Brewing Company Hazy Sexy Cool IPA, 6.8% ABV is a New England style IPA I picked up from Pop the Top Bottle Shop here in Charlotte. Hazy Sexy Cool IPA is unfiltered and brewed with Citra, Mosaic, & El Dorado hops. Hazy Sexy Cool IPA pours a hazy orange color with a big three finger white head that sicks around giving off juicy citrus fruit aromas with some bitter notes hitting your nose. Taste its juicy with orange and some grapefruit citrus with faint pineapple with a nice fruity bitter hoppy note coming in on the back of the tongue with a nice bitter juicy citrus finish and a grapefruit orange aftertaste with some nice hoppy bitterness. Birdsong Brewing Company Hazy Sexy Cool IPA is spot on and well brewed, it’s getting an A- here. It has a little stronger boozy note that his hiding behind all the citrus flavors but that doesn’t take away anything major from this beer, it’s a goof beer, one that I recommend and will definitely go back to! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Elysian Brewing Company Space Dust IPA

Posted on by Evan

I found Elysian Brewing Company Space Dust IPA, 8.2% ABV at my local Harris Teeter and wasn’t expecting to find this beer. Elysian Brewing in Seattle, Washington which has been in business since 1996 brews Space Dust with Chinook hops to bitter the beer and they use late and dry additions of Citra and Amarillo hops. Space Dust IPA pours slightly hazy orange color with a two finger white head with fruity-hoppy dank aroma wafting off the head with a slight sweet grass note then you get to a bitter flavor of some grapefruit with mild sweetness to it with some onion, dank grassy pine notes but you don’t really get the full hit of the 8.2% ABV. Space Dust IPA finishes nice with a faint sweetness and a nice bitter note with an aftertaste of bittersweet fruity onion with a fuller mouthfeel. Elysian Brewing Company Space Dust IPA is a good beer, getting a B. Now I don’t think that more than two Space Dust IPA could be had, the flavor would overwhelm your tastebuds halfway through a third, but that is not a bad thing. Lots of beers are great and are a beer that can you could only have two or three due to the strong flavors or higher ABV. I like the sweetness that compliments the bitterness in Space Dust IPA it blends well with the entire flavor profile of Space Dust. Elysian Brewing Company Space Dust IPA is a beer that I would recommend you try and one that I would definitely go back to. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Beer and Chips Pairing: Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño & Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blueprint IPA

Posted on by Evan

The Cape Cod brand of potato chips has been around for as long as I can remember and these are Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño which I paired with a recent beer review Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blue Print IPA 6.5% ABV. Now for future reference if you are going to have spicy food and you’d like to have a nice beer with it you can’t go wrong with an IPA. These Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño chips look much like your average chips but with little bits of green Jalapeño bits sprinkled on top T.he hops in this fruity IPA, The Blueprint complements the sweetness that hit you tongue quickly upfront then the hops do cut the Jalapeño spice in the middle which then the fruitiness of the beer blends nicely with the spicy finish of these Cape Cod chips. The hops profile of an IPA does blend well and keep the spiciness of spicy food down a bit. This was a good pairing a B+, the sweetness was minimal and there was more of the Jalapeño flavor they than anything else but was still good and went nicely with Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blue Print IPA, which is a great IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blue Print IPA

Posted on by Evan

Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blue Print IPA, 6.5% purchased from the local Winestore is brewed not far in Greenville, South Carolina with Citra, Centennial, and Mosaic hops with a touch of Guava purée. Birds Fly South Ale Project only brews different variations of the IPA. The Blue Print IPA pours a deep yellow nearly orange color with a one and a half finger of nice white head with juicy tropical fruits aromas coming off it with a nice little hop note that lead to a juicy tropical fruits flavor with pineapple, guava, very faint grapefruit with hints of melon and a semi-creamy hoppy bitter note towards the back of the mouth with a nice tropical fruit finish and a nice slightly bitter tropical fruit aftertaste with a medium mouthfeel. Birds Fly South Ale Project The Blue Print IPA is just a tropical fruit bomb the way I really like my IPA and this IPA is well deserving of am A+ all the fruity flavors meld with the hope notes for a well balanced IPA that is awesome and flavorful and one I highly recommend trying and one that I will come back to again and again. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Throwback Thursday: Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

Originally posted on November 15th, 2016

I like coffee and I like beer, so naturally, I would like coffee beer, and yes that would be correct cause I do. Most coffee beers are dark beers like stouts, porters, or brown ales. But this beer from Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. in Saratoga Springs New York brews Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale, 6.8% ABV. Death Wish Nightmare uses Death Wish coffee. If you haven’t had Death Wish Coffee then you are really missing out, and Death Wish Coffee is from Round Lake, New York nearby. It is good strong coffee, the strong kind of stuff you grandpa would say it’ll be hair on chest boy! This is an IPA brewed with whole Death Wish coffee beans. Death Wish Nightmare pours a light copper color with a five-finger fluffy slightly off-white head that stays for days. The aroma is like your smelling strong rich coffee being brewed on the other side of the kitchen. There is a slight earthy note there are well with a bit of an ash-like scent. Taste is roasted coffee upfront with a little ashy flavor in the middle with a bitter citrus pine on the back. The mouthfeel is medium with a nice ashy coffee finish that has a good bitter IPA and bitter coffee aftertaste. This is one balanced beer between the malts of the IPA and the coffee flavors. I say that Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale is an A. I have never had a Coffee IPA before, and most coffee beer that I’ve had have been dark stout or porter. This was really good. I recommend that you try this beer and Death Wish Coffee! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly

Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Luponic Distortion IPA Series No. 11

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This Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Luponic Distortion IPA Series No. 11, 5.9% ABV is part of Firestone Walker’s IPA Series called Luponic Distortion and is the 11 one of the series coming out of Paso Robles, California which I purchased from my local Total Wine. According to the breweries brewmasters, this IPA showcases an emergent new hop from the Pacific Northwest which compliments the Australian hops as well as the German hops. Luponic Distortion No. 11 pours yellow light gold color with a white two finger head giving off tropical fruit aromas with hints of a bitterness that lead into a tropical pineapple note with hints of guava, bits of lemon and lemon drop that are juicy with a bitter hop notes coming in on the back fo the tongue with a nice tropical finish and a bitter tropical fruit aftertaste, with a lighter mouthfeel. This is the kind of tropical fruit IPA that I like and Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Luponic Distortion IPA Series No. 11 is an A+, something that you must try and one that I will most certainly o back for. All the tropical fruits meld well with one another creating a nice tropical fruit sensation in your mouth. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Willmington Brewing Company Seasonal Bartender Tropical Milkshake India Pale Ale

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Willmington Brewing Company Seasonal Bartender Tropical Milkshake India Pale Ale, 7.8% ABV purchased locally from Pop the Top Bottle Shop is brewed with Pale malts, flaked wheat, oats Carapils, Lactose sugar, Azacca, and Chinook hops, dry hopped first with Ekuanot then dry hopped with Mosaic and Amarillo. Seasonal Bartender is brewed with guavas, pineapples and mangos in Willmington, North Carolina and pours an hazy yellow orange juice color with a two finger off white heads that slowly fades into wonderful lacing giving off sweet juicy tropical fruit notes with a slight cream scent that take you to a sweet juicy flavor with touches of bitterness and some creamy notes with a nice cream bitter juicy fruit finish and a similar aftertaste that linger a bit with a creamy medium mouthfeel. This Milkshake IPA is a relatively (2-3 years) new fad within craft beer and one that is slowly growing within. The whole IPA style and Willmington Brewing Company Seasonal Bartender Tropical Milkshake India Pale is a good beer, getting an A here. I find that the lactose does cut back some the hop bitterness so that isn’t a bitter punch in the face but at the same time, it not keeping and bitterness away from your taste buds. The lactose also brings out a sweetness within the fruity flavors adding a new layer of cream bittersweetness. Willmington Brewing Company Seasonal Bartender Tropical Milkshake India Pale is a beer that I recommend but not something that you can have more than two pints of seeing how the flavor is a bit stronger than some beers, but otherwise a great beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Hi-Wire Brewing gimme the brut Double IPA

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Hi-Wire Brewing gimme the brut Double IPA, 8% ABV, is a new originating in California style for the past year where brewers use combination of Pilsner malt, wheat, corn and/or rice in the mash and they add Amylase enzymes that reduce the beers final gravity. These brut IPA are generally low in bitterness with gimme the brut Double IPA have only 20 IBUs. Gimme the brut Double IPA pours a yellow color with a tight but rocky white heads giving off a slightly fruity hoppy aroma with a dry juicy like note that leads to a slightly fruit hoppy orange flavor that is a little bit like orange juice on the middle of the tongue and dry on the back or the tongue that continues into the the finish of this beer with a little dry fruit aftertaste and low bitterness. Gimme the brut Double IPA is not overly bitter throughout but has a nice low/faint hoppy not that comes in. I give Hi-Wire Brewing gimme the brut Double IPA an A-. It’s a good beer but not as sparkling or effervescent as you’d like for being a brut IPA. But good and yes it was a bit refreshing, and one that I recommend tying. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

NoDa Brewing Company Hoppy Holidays India Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

Local Charlotte, North Carolina NoDa Brewing Company, Hoppy Holidays, 6.5% ABV which was purchased from the local Harris Teeter grocery. Hoppy Holidays which is a holiday seasonal beer is brewed to give you the flavor of a pine or Christmas tree, and pours a light copper color with a three finger slightly off white slow head giving off huge piney aromas with orange/grapefruit bitterness that leads you to a flavors big piney notes with a slight sweetness with some bitter grapefruit citrus with a nice pine finish and a citrus piney aftertaste with a medium mouthfeel. This ways surprising how NoDa got Hoppy Holidays to taste like a Christmas tree and that is good, I think it is an A. But one pint is enough because if another is had the big piney flavor overwhelms the mouth and all you’d taste after would be this otherwise fabulous beer, and one that I highly recommend trying! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Westbrook Brewing Co. IPA

Posted on by Evan

Coming out of Mt. Pleasant South Carolina Westbrook Brewing Co. IPA, 6.8% ABV which I picked up from the local grocery store is brewed with a base of pale, Munich, and Caraplis malts and blended with different American hop varieties and added four times in the kettle and again in the fermentor. Westbrook Brewing Co. IPA pours a slightly darker yellow color with an almost two finger slow white head with fruity sweet and slightly bitter juiciness aromas wafting in to your nose that then take you to a semi-sweet fruit juice flavor with a nice pungent hoppy bitterness that lingers into a bitter finish with a light juicy fruit and a hoppy fruited aftertaste with a lighter mouthfeel that is a bit refreshing. Westbrook Brewing Co. IPA is a well balanced IPA and gets an A-, the hoppy bitter flavors start to get to be slightly too much at the very end, but that just barely holds an otherwise good India Pale Ale, one that I recommend that you try! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly