IPA

Another Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness Project IPA is upon us and this is Bookworm IPA, 6.3% ABV and 70 IBU (International Bittering Units). This Winston-Salem North Carolina IPA is helping out with literacy get people to read more. Bookworm pours a deep golden color with a three finger head and has a somewhat dry fruity aroma of pineapple, mango, grapefruit and slight blueberry with a slight dryness and an herbal note from the use of Eureka hops. Then the aroma leads into the taste of pineapple (from the Denali dry hopping) and some nice  grapefruit notes and very faint blueberry and a dryness on the back of the tongue. Bookworm finish slight dry and fruity with a nice dry grapefruit and pineapple aftertaste all with a medium mouthfeel. This Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness Project IPA taste slightly similar to a few of the others in this series but with a faint blueberry note, and with that being said, this Bookworm IPA is a an A-. A good beer something that I would have a again and one that I recommend to anyone that likes IPAs. Foothills Brewing does an amazing job with this series of IPAs and is a series of beer that is well with a try. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

This Coronado Brewing Co. Islander IPA, 7.0% I got through Brewpublik out of Coronado California, that is basically San Deigo. Islander IPA is brewed with a blend of Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus. Islander IPA pours a golden hue with two-finger white head giving off tropical fruit aromas with mango, pineapple a little apricot, that then gives you the taste of tropical mango, pineapple with some bits of apricot and grapefruit. You also will find a nice wash of pine hoppiness. Over this beer is pleasant and refreshing, it’s a B+ and something worth trying. I found it to be a tropical refresher with a nice balance of hoppy flavors without overpowering your taste buds. I would have Coronado Brewing Co. Islander IPA again. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Foothills in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has another in their Crapt Happiness IPA Project, Clean IPA, 6.0% ABV and 55 IBUs. Clean IP is benefiting clean water. Clean IPA pours an orange color with a two finger big but thin white head giving you an orange/orange peel, citrus fruit, like grapefruit with piney, earthy and some hoppy aroma notes which lead into a similar taste. You get citrus fruits, earth hoped pine notes that are just enough and Clean IPA finishes nicely with a bit of with a bitter orange and grapefruit but the after taste halts quickly with a bitter citrus flavor. This beer is very easy to drink for an IPA and give this Clean IPA an A. Everytime I have one of these beers from Foothills brewing I can’t say enough good things about it. This is a good one that I recommend trying for yourself. It just the right amount of hoppy flavor. But not as bold as some of the others in this series which helps this beer to be an easier drinker. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!        

West coast and west coast-style IPA are probably one the most popular beer styles if not the most these days. Uinta Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City brews West Coast-Style IPA, 6.3% ABV, which is gluten-reduced. West Coast-Style IPA pours a golden orange color with a two and half finger white head giving off a dank resinous mango, grapefruit, and slight pineapple earthy aromas. Taste is loaded with hops, earthy dank resinous mango and grapefruit on the front and middle of the mouth and the back you get bitter earthy hoppy notes with some bitter grapefruit, that finishes hoppy with a few fruity notes and a bittering aftertaste that really coats your mouth. The mouth feel is medium with a bit of a full hop flavor. I don’t think your taste buds could handle more than two of those before the hoppy flavor becomes overwhelming.Uinta Brewing Co. West Coast-Style IPA is a solid B. It’s definitely a west coast-style IPA and is pretty good. It’s fruity hoppy and balanced drinking IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!         

There isn’t enough session or sessionalbe beer out there, and I think there should be. Not every beer needs to have big bold flavor with a high ABV percent. Sometimes you want something a bit lighter with low ABV. Melee Session India Pale Ale5.2% ABV and 35 IBUs from Champion Brewing Company in Charlottesville Virgina is a lighter take on the IPA style which can range anywhere from lighter hoppy and bitter all the way to extremely harsh and bitter with loads of in your face hops that destroy your taste buds. Melee IPA pours a clean yellow color with a two finger quickly fleeting head that leaves nearly nothing behind, giving off light grapefruit notes. Male is brewed with Citra and Amarillo hops. So you do get toned down citrus notes upfront with a little bitterness in the middle of the mouth with bitter orange grapefruit in the back that finishes crisp with little bit of citrus bitter hops. Aftertaste is pretty tame with faint bitter citrus notes. Nothing on this beer is really memorable, it’s not bad Champion Brewing Company Melee Session India Pale Ale is a C+. Yes, it is sessionable, refreshing and easy to drink but the flavor is overly or too sessionable. This drinks more like a slightly hoppy pilsner than an IPA. But you can taste that this is a session IPA to much so.  Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

I haven’t had too much from Epic Brewing out in Denver Colorado nor do I hear a lot about them, but what I do hear is things about their Brainless series and their Big Bad Baptist Stout. No, I don’t have any of those, I have Escape To Colorado IPA, 6.2% ABV. Escape To Colorado is brewed Mosaic hops and pouts a light yellow color with a two finger white head that sticks for a little bit then slowly fades into some nice decent lacing. The aroma is of lemon, lemon grass, hops with some faint sweetness. This aroma draws you in and brings you to a taste of slightly sweet lemon, lemon grass up front with a hop bitter lemon in the middle with a little more hop flavor on the back of the mouth with a hoppy yet smooth bitter finish and a nice semi-sweet hoppy aftertaste. The mouth feel is on the lighter side of the medium scale. This Epic Brewing IPA is good, A- good. After about three or four I think the flavor might be a bit much but still, you could drink three or four. I like out it finishes on the smoother side for an IPA with a huge kick in the gut of hoppy intense flavor.  I recommend Epic Brewing Company Escape To Colorado IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

I have another Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness Project Beer, Move IPA, 6.3% ABV and 60 IBUs (International Bittering Units). This Beer is helping people move and be active, because almost 30% of us qualify as inactive, and only one out of three adults get their recommend amount of physical activity a week. Move IPA pours a deep gold color with a foamy three finger white head with excellent retention, giving off aromas of resin grapefruit with piney earthy hop notes. Movie IPA has a slight bitter flavor up front with some resin grapefruit in the middle of the mouth then come a earthy pine note with some more hop bitterness toward the back. The finish is slightly fruity with citrus notes and some hop notes and you get a juicy bitter after taste. The mouth feel is medium on Move IPA. This is just like all of the other beer in this series, great and I give Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness Project Move IPA an A-. This IPA has just balanced flavors throughout and has great flavors that do not overwhelm your taste buds. This is one that I would suggest trying. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

I would like to thank Brewpublik, (www.brewpublik.com) for Stone Brewing Ghost Hammer IPA, 6.7% ABV. This beer came as part of a delivery. This is a relatively new beer from Stone Brewing in Escondido California. Ghost Hammer pours a golden color with a clear two finger white head with descent retention. Ghost Hammer gives off a piney earthy aroma with a slight yet faint dank note as well, that leads you to a piney bitter earthy grapefruit taste with a refreshing ease of drinking. This IPA has a nice slight bitter grapefruit pine finish and a slight citrus hopped after tastes that linger until your next sip. Ghost Hammer IPA is a rather good Stone IPA, I have had a few Stone IPAs and found that to be too bitter, but this one is not and it’s the right amount of bitterness, and I give this a B+. The easy drinking refreshing qualities along with the nice bitterness make this a good beer and one that is worth trying. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

I would like to first off thank Good Bottle Co. (www.goodbottleco.com) for this recommendation of Burial Beer Co. Surf Wax India Pale Ale, 6.8% ABV and 65 IBUs (International Bittering Units). Burial Beer Co. in Asheville brews Surf Wax with Mosaic, Centennial, Citra, and Columbus hops, lots of barley and a touch of wheat. Surf Wax pours a deep gold color with a big three and a half finger of pillow like white head with awesome retention that leaves behind nice beautiful lacing. Surf Wax has a citrus aroma of grapefruit, orange, slight lemon, pineapple with an earthy pine notes and a sweet hop note in the back of the mouth. This is how I like an IPA, fruity with enough bitterness. The mouth feel is medium with some bitterness leading into a bitter fruity finish and leaves an after taste of orange, grapefruit, pineapple and a bitter hoppy yet earthiness. Surf Wax is a refreshing beer that gets an A+. This east coast take on a west coast IPA is fabulous. But I didn’t find any of the formentioned wheat in this beer, but that doesn’t take anything away from this IPA. Burial Beer Co. Surf Wax India Pale Ale is so good that one mistake is okay with me. I highly recommend Burial Beer Co. Surf Wax India Pale Ale. Go over and pick up some at Good Bottle Co. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!