Category Archives: Tasting Notes

These are my thoughts about various beers that I taste. Not as thorough as a review, but more than just casual drinking.

Alaskan Brewing Co. Big Mountain Pale Ale

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I remember well my first taste of Alaskan Amber Ale. I was on tour with my theater company. We were in one of those steak and ale chain places to grab a bite to eat after a show. They had this beer from Alaska that I had never heard of. From the first sip, I was hooked. It had all the toast and biscuit maltiness that I adore. I gushed so effusively that everyone else at the table ordered it as well.

Since then I’ve gotten to know Alaskan Brewing much better. I had the opportunity to do an extensive interview with founder Geoff Larson. I have tasted a ton of Alaskan beers. Alaskan Winter Ale is one of my favorite cold-season brews. And you can’t beat Alaskan Smoked Porter. Honestly, I’ve never had a beer from Alaskan Brewing Co. that I didn’t like.

I’m headed to Alaska for a couple of days in April. I’ll mostly be in Fairbanks, but I hope to take a jaunt up to Juneau to stop in for a visit.

Big Mountain Pale Ale is a new addition to the Alaskan lineup – at least here in Minnesota. The name pays homage to the mountains of Alaska and the climbers who scale them.

Here’s my notes:

Big Mountain Pale AleBig Mountain
Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau, Alaska
Style: American Pale Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
5.7% ABV
45 IBU

Aroma: Citrus hops lead – grapefruit peel, grapefruit juice, oranges. A bit of floral comes in as well. Low caramel malt. Medium fruity esters.

Appearance: Dark gold to light amber. Slight haze. Full, off-white foam with excellent retention.

Flavor: Good balance of malt to hops. Delicate. Malt character is toasty and toffee – dry like an English beer. Bitterness is medium-high – balanced by low malty sweetness. Hops give flavors of oranges, grapefruit peel and pineapple. The toasted malt flavors really set off the citrus. Some English-like esters with maybe a slight hint of butter. Finish is dry and quick with lingering toffee and minty hops.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium carbonation. Slight astringency.

Overall Impression: Yum! An Anglo/American pale ale. Malt and balance are definitely English inspired. Hops are all American. It feels delicate. It doesn’t smack you in the face. Refreshing and balanced.

Stone Brewing Co. Delicious IPA

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IPA, experimental hop varieties, gluten concerns – three things that are really hot in the beer world right now. So what happens when you put them all together? Delicious IPA from Stone Brewing Co. That’s what.

Delicious IPA is not actually gluten-free. It’s one of those reduced gluten beers like Omission or Two Brothers Prairie Path. It’s brewed with barley malt and then the gluten is removed with an enzyme that brings it below the federal guidelines for gluten-free of 20ppm. The problem is that gluten can’t be accurately measured below 20ppm, so there is no way of actually knowing with any certainty what amount of gluten remains. Therefore, if you really are a celiac sufferer, drink with caution.

El Dorado is the one and only hop variety used in this beer. It was released in 2010 and is grown exclusively by CLS Farms in Moxee, Washington. It is a high alpha-acid variety that is also high in essential oils, making it good for both bittering and character. The farm website describes its profile as tropical fruit and stone fruit. The folks at Stone say it reminds them of “lemon Starburst candy.”

IPAs are not really my thing. It’s not that I don’t like them, but the super-hoppy beers don’t tend to be my go-to. I have historically had issues with the beers from Stone Brewing Co. Not because they aren’t well made, but because to my palate they focus too much on bitterness and not on hop flavor and aroma. I’m not such a fan of the bitter.

That said, they have made some hoppy beers that I love. I’m crazy for Go-To IPA, even though there is nothing about that beer that I should like. Delicious IPA is a pretty audacious name. But then, audacity is what Stone does best. Does the beer live up to its moniker?

Here’s my notes:

stone-delicious-ipaStone Delicious IPA
Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, California
Style: American IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
7.7% ABV
80 IBU

Aroma: Resiny, tropical fruit hoppiness – mango, pineapple. Some strong lemon citrus in there, too. Lemon Starburst is correct. Malt aromatics are very low – light toast. There may be some fruity esters in there, but the hops deliver such a fruity wallop that it’s really hard to tell.

Appearance: Dark gold and brilliant. Huge head of creamy, white foam with excellent retention.

Flavor: Flavor follows the aroma. Hops dominate, but bitterness is remarkably soft for 80 IBU – medium to medium-high. Hop flavors are the star – lemon, tropical fruit. There is an impression of tartness – almost citric acid. Malt character is low with light toast and just-balancing sweetness. The finish is dry with lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Surprisingly light body for nearly 8%. Medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: This is 7.7% and 80 IBU? If I weren’t reading those words on the bottle and in a press release, I wouldn’t have believed it. I thought this was some kind of session IPA. So light and drinkable. Despite the high IBUs, the focal point of this beer is hop flavor and aroma, a departure from my normal impression of Stone beers. I could sit and smell it for days. And it’s reduced gluten for those who have sensitivities.

Farnum Hill Semi-Dry Cider

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There is cider and there is cider.

Most mass-market ciders available in this country are sweet-ish, juice drinks made from concentrate or from culinary apples. This is true even for most of the “better” brands. To make really good cider you need the balance and flavor provided by different types of heirloom cider apples. Not for eating, these apples give sweetness, acidity, bitterness, and tannins that together create ciders of real depth and complexity. The problem is, most of these cider apple trees in this country were ripped out during prohibition. Not too many orchards still grow them.

There are a few. Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, New Hampshire is one of them. Over half of their acreage in two different locations is given over to these odd-tasting fruits. They are the biggest grower of cider apples in the U.S.

The folks at Poverty Lane use the juice from these apples to make Farnum Hill Ciders. They take cider seriously. As their website states, “On Farnum Hill, we use the word ‘cider’ to mean an alcoholic beverage fermented from particular apples, just as ‘wine’ is fermented from particular grapes.” Also like wine, the idea of “terroir” come into play, as the same variety of apples grown in different places will exhibit different characteristics. Farnum Hill ciders embrace the idea of regional cider.

Farnum Hill produces a number of different ciders. I have only seen three in the local market – Semi-Dry, Extra Dry, and Dooryard. I discussed the Extra Dry and Dooryard ciders last May in my Star Tribune column. These do not seem to be currently available. [I’m told that Extra Dry and Dooryard are available. I just haven’t seen them in a while.] Semi-Dry is in stores now. I tried it last night.

Here’s my notes:

Farnum Hill Semi DryFarnum Hill Semi Dry
Poverty Lane Orchards & Farnum Hill Cider, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle
7.4% ABV

Aroma: Minerals. Red apple skin. Pears and pineapples. So much fruit. There is even a hint of banana in the background. A suggestion of sweetness come in soft whiffs of honey and light brown sugar.

Appearance: Medium gold and brilliant. Low (nearly no) white head with no retention.

Flavor: Same slate/mineral note from the aroma. The fruit also carries over – Tart red apple. Pear. Peaches. Pineapple. Lemon juice and lemon zest. Very low green banana. Like the aroma, so much fruit. Low sweetness – honey. Medium bitterness. Very dry finish. Moderately high tannins grab the edges of the tongue after swallowing. Mouthwatering acidity – saliva floods the mouth.

Mouthfeel: Medium light body. Low carbonation (petilent). Moderate astringency.

Overall Impression: So good! “Semi-dry” is a bit misleading. There is very little that is “sweet” about this cider. It is dry, dry, dry. The tannins and acidity are high. Any perception of sweetness comes from the abundance of fruity notes that balance the bitter. As the website says, “On Farnum Hill, that much-abused word ‘dry’ is taken literally…”

Schell’s Noble Star Collection: Dawn of Aurora

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Light, bright, and effervescent, with a touch of refreshing, acidic tartness, Berliner Weisse is one of the styles du jour of American brewers. In its place of origin however, the style is nearly dead. It was once the most popular alcoholic drink in Berlin. 700-plus breweries are said to have been making it at the height of its popularity in the 19th-century. Now there is only one – Berliner Kindl. Though tasty, it is a shadow of the complex brew that Berliner Weisse once was.

The history of Berliner Weisse is dim. Multiple stories give conflicting accounts of its origin. Some say French Huguenots brought the style to Berlin in the 1700s after picking up brewing techniques from the makers of red and brown ales in the Flanders region of what is now Belgium. Another story says that it is an offshoot of an even older style, Boryhan, which was popular in Berlin in the 1600s.

Early Berliner Weisse was made with a mix of approximately 50% wheat and 50% barley malt. The wort was not boiled. Hops were boiled separately in water. The boiling hop infusion was then added to the mash along with unboiled hops. The overall hopping rate was very low.

Malted grain is rife with lactic acid producing bacteria and other microflora. Because it was not boiled, the wort remained unsantitized, meaning that these organisms could work alongside brewer’s yeast to complete fermentation. The resulting beer would have been light and dry with little residual sugar. Fruity and sour flavors would have dominated.

Today we think of Berliner Weisse as a low-alcohol, nearly white, wheat beer. But there were once many types of Berliner sour beers. Some were brewed with darker malts. Others were brewed to a higher alcohol content. It is this high-gravity style Berliner Weisse that Jace Marti of August Schell Brewing Company is exploring with Dawn of Aurora, the latest release in the Noble Star Collection.

Like the other beers in this series, Dawn of Aurora is aged for an extended period in the 1936, cypress-wood tanks that were once the brewery’s main fermenters. It utilizes a Brettanomyces yeast “obtained” from a long-defunct weisse brewery in Berlin. This one is a different strain than was used in the other Noble Star beers. Dawn of Aurora clocks in at 8% alcohol, but has only 5 IBU.

Here’s my notes:

Dawn of AuroraDawn of Aurora
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: “Starkbier”-style Berliner Weisse
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle
8% ABV
5 IBU

Aroma: Bright acidity – both lactic and acetic. Fruity – yellow grapefruit, lemons, and apricots. Especially apricots. Low, bready malt with some toasty overtones.

Appearance: Dark gold/orange. Cloudy. Clears a bit as it warms, but maintains a haze. Full head of fluffy, white foam with excellent retention.

Flavor: High acidity balanced by low sweetness mid-palate. Fruit is in front. Lemons and grapefruit return from the aroma. Apricots take on a much larger role, becoming the absolute dominant player as the beer warms. Low biscuit and bready malt comes in mid-palate and stays into the finish, contrasting and accentuating the stone fruits. Finish is very dry, lingering on stone fruit, lemon and light biscuit malt.

Mouthfeel: Light body, but with a mouth-filling quality. High carbonation, effervescent. Champagne-like.

Overall Impression: Beautiful! Lovely stone fruit and baked crust impression, like apricot cobbler. Let it warm up slightly from refrigerator temperature to really let the stone fruit and biscuit develop. When it does, it sings.

Schell’s Fresh Hop: Equinox

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Still more fresh-hop beers!

The August Schell Brewing Company is steeped in history. German brewing tradition is what makes it tick. True-to-style German lagers and ales are its signature. “Hops” is not the first word that comes to one’s mind when this brewery is discussed. Yet, for the last three years Schell’s has jumped on the fresh-hop train with a single-hopped, wet-hop brew.

But the brewers at Schell’s do it their way. No over-hopped IPAs from this brewery. They stick to their roots with a fresh-hopped pilsner. Lager fermentation leaves little yeast character to clutter things up. Soft, pilsner malt gives a neutral background against which the hops stand out.

And Schell’s is able to source some interesting varieties. This year’s fresh-hop pilsner features a new variety called Equinox. According to promotional material from the brewery, “Equinox’s high oil content and tight cone structure imparts pronounced citrus, tropical fruit, herbal and floral aromas and flavors to this beer.” Interesting choice for a pilsner. Does it work?

Here’s my notes:

Schell's Fresh HopSchell’s Fresh Hop
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: Fresh Hop Pilsner
Serving Style: 12 oz bottle
ABV: 5%

Aroma: A sweet, pils malt background offsets bright hop aromatics. A blend of herbal, minty, ripe stone fruits, and lime citrus. Somewhere between Tettnang and Citra. A low level of sulfur.

Appearance: Light gold and brilliantly clear. Moderate, fluffy white head with good retention.

Flavor: Very balanced malt to hop. Medium pils malt sweetness clears away for a dry finish. Malt flavor is grainy sweet with light notes of corn. Bitterness is medium to medium-high and lingers into the finish. Bright hop flavors start with herbal/floral character with light, lime-citrus overtones. As the beer warms, notes of lemon zest increase. Low grassy notes. Low sulfur.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: Bright and refreshing with lively and delicate lemon-lime overtones. It’s a great, balanced pilsner with a citrusy twist. It will make you want another one – at least it does me.

Summit Unchained #17: Harvest Fresh IPA

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Wet hop beers have become an early-fall ritual. Hop harvest season comes around and brewers everywhere scramble to get the hops in the kettle as quickly as possible after they are picked, often within hours; minutes even for those who have hop yards outside the brewery. The practice reportedly brings brighter, livelier hop aromatics. I must admit that I have never really found this to be the case. Instead I taste an unpleasant level of grassy/vegetal flavors from the addition of all that green, leafy matter. I have yet to figure out what all of the fuss is about.

For Fresh Harvest IPA, Summit brewer Tom Mondor has chosen to use both “fresh” and wet hops from the Pacific Northwest. Another admission – I always thought these were the same thing. As he explains in the video below, they apparently are not. A hop grower in Oregon has initiated a pelletizing process using lower temperature kilning and immediate processing and shipping to get the freshest possible hops out the door to brewers. Still, aside from rapid shipment, once they have been processed like most other hops, it’s hard for me to understand why they would be called “fresh.” I guess I’ll have to investigate further. For now, I’ll let Mr. Mondor explain.

Here’s my notes:

Brews_Bottle_Unchained17Unchained #17: Fresh Harvest IPA
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: American IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
ABV: 7%
IBU: 70

Aroma: Hops clearly dominate – Tropical fruit, limes, mint, hay, grass. Low grainy malt aromas with some caramel and biscuit character. Some orange high notes and English-like fruity esters.

Appearance: Full, creamy, just-off-white head. Excellent retention. Medium orange/amber and clear.

Flavor: Balanced and English-like. Tongue-tingling bitterness is moderate with full emphasis in hop flavor. Loads of fruit – orange, tropical fruits, grapefruit, even blueberry. Malt sweetness is medium-low. Some caramel and toasted-biscuit malt flavors. Malt provides ample balance to the hops. Again there is an English estery character to it. Finish is off-dry, lingering on fruity hops.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: An easy-drinking, balanced IPA. Despite the use of an American Ale yeast strain, the malt complexity and fruity hop character give it a pleasant English character. There is little of the grassy/vegetal flavor that I normally associate with fresh-hop beers.

Boulevard Collaboration #4: Saison

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A lot of brewery collaborations seem pointless. They give the sense that the brewers simply cobbled together a recipe over a couple of emails. There is no convincing reason for the collaboration – at least none that is apparent. There is no sense that some piece of each brewery has come together in some way in the finished beer. Marketing gimmick? Perhaps, but I’ve never been able to get a brewer to admit to that.

They don’t all seem pointless, though. In some cases the joint project really does tie the two breweries together. Avery/Russian River’s Collaboration Not Litigation is a good example. Two brewers selling beer of the same name in the same markets decided to blend their beers rather than engage in sticky trademark litigation.

In another example the brewers from Avery, Russian River, Allagash, and Lost Abbey decided to brew a lambic after traveling together to Belgium. The beer was brewed at Russian River and barrel-fermented with the house lambic bugs from each brewery. The four beers were then blended into the final product; a true coming together of the breweries.

Boulevard Brewing Company’s collaboration with Brewery Ommegang is one of those that seems genuine. Having started as independent companies, both are now owned by Belgian brewing conglomerate Duvel-Moortgat. They are sister breweries so to speak. Ommegang brews only Belgian inspired ales. While it was built on other brews, Boulevard has made a splash with its Belgian styles such as the delicious Tank 7 Saison. And Boulevard’s brewmaster Steven Pauwels comes from Belgium.

The collaborative process involved brewing separate batches of a saison recipe that used pale malt, oats, rye, corn and wheat and was spiced with coriander, grains of paradise and lemon peel. Each batch was fermented with the house yeast from the respective brewery and then the beers were blended. To me, that’s a collaborative beer.

Here’s my notes:

Boulevard Collaboration #4Boulevard Collaboration #4: Saison
Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, Missouri with Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, New York
Style: Saison
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle
ABV: 7.3%
IBU: 28

Aroma: High fruity esters – orange, mango, lemons, banana. High peppery phenols. Medium-high noble hop character – lemon and spice. Low biscuity malt.

Appearance: Full, rocky, ivory head with excellent retention. Medium-light amber and very hazy.

Flavor: Banana, clove, and zesty black pepper with high notes of lemon citrus. Bitterness is high, accentuated by very high attenuation. As it warms other fruits come through – blood orange, mango. Low malt sweetness gets a boost from the banana esters, but gives up past mid-palate. Some biscuity malt character. Alcohol adds some floral notes. Finish is extra dry with emphasis on peppery phenols, lingering bitterness, and alcohol.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-full body. Mouthfilling in a hefeweizen kind of way. High carbonation – effervescent. Moderate alcohol warming.

Overall Impression: A full-throttle saison. Big and filling, yet high attenuation leaves it refreshing. Zippy and spicy. A good saison for the fall season.

Schell’s Noble Star North Country Brünette and Black Forest Cherry

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Last week the August Schell Brewing Co. announced that it was building a new facility and restoring eight more cypress-wood fermenting tanks to expand its Noble Star Collection of Berliner weisse style beers. That seemed like a good enough reason to me to grab a couple bottles out of the basement and give them a whirl.

I’d write more here, but I would run the risk of ripping off my column in next week’s Minneapolis Star Tribune. Check it out in the Taste section on Thursday, October 2nd if you want to learn more about the series. For now…

Here’s my notes:

North Country Brünette North Country Brünette
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: Märzen Berliner Weisse
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle
5.4% ABV

Aroma: Malt dominates – toasted grain and bread crust. Hints of chocolate. Dry toast. Balsamic vinegar and some light, cherry-like fruit. Background notes of brettanomyces barnyard.

Appearance: Light brown and cloudy. Full, creamy, head of off-white foam with moderate retention.

Flavor: Bright, lemony acidity leads off and stays throughout, subsiding somewhat in the middle and then biting the top of the throat on the way out. With a second sip the malt becomes more prominent, revealing similar toasted grain and bread crust notes from the aroma. Chocolate is there, but the flavor is fainter than the smell. The finish is like sucking on a lemon wedge, complete with the nutty, bitter taste of the seeds.

Overall Impression: A most unique take on the Berliner weisse. Not “weisse” at all. Addition of toasty malty tones offers an intriguing counter play to the tart acidity. More substantial than the typical Berliner weisse, but still lightweight and refreshing. Autumnal weisse?

Black Forest CherryBlack Forest Cherry
Style: Märzen Berliner Weisse aged on Cherries
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle
5.5% ABV

Aroma: Lambic-like. Earthy and barnyard brettanomyces character comes through strong. Toasted grain and bread crust malt. Deep-red, tart cherry notes meld into malt. Pie filling.

Appearance: Dark amber color with a reddish hue. Hazy. Moderate, off-white/pinkish head with moderate retention.

Flavor: Cherry pie with the crust. Acidity bites at the beginning, lessens in the middle and returns in the finish. Pie cherries come in clear from the top and stay throughout. Bread crust and toasty malt notes stay in the background, offering a crust-like counterpoint to the acid and cherries. Faint cinnamon. Some lemony high notes. Barnyard brettanomyces character is strong.  As it warms the malty bits come through more boldly, amplifying the cherry pie effect. Bit of old-cheese funk hangs around in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. High carbonation. Puckering acidity.

Overall Impression: This is the funkiest and I think most complex beer of the series so far. I just might also be my favorite. The strong brettanomyces notes make it decidedly lambic-like. I love the cherry pie profile. This beer feels more mature than the others in the series (whatever that means).

 

Summit Unchained #16: Herkulean Woods

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As much as I would like to deny it, it’s fall. I love the fall. The cooling air and changing colors make it perhaps my favorite season in Minnesota. The problem with fall is that it means winter is not too far behind – another nine months of virtual hibernation.

One good thing that fall brings is a plethora of malty brews. It’s the season of Oktoberfest and brown ale. While the rest of the state’s beer drinkers are obsessed with hops, I do love malt. I especially love the toasty and toffee flavors of the mid-toast malts that to me epitomize the autumnal beers. Give me the Munich malt. Bring on the Biscuit. Toss in a pinch of melanoidin malt for good measure.

Herkulean Woods, the newest Unchained beer from drips with this kind of deliciousness. Christian Dixon, one of Summit’s newest brewers, has laced that toasty malt with a splash of spruce and a smattering of Minnesota maple syrup. Top that off with bracing bitterness and spicy woodsy hop flavors and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a dilly of a fall beer.

Here’s my notes:

Summit Unchained #16: Herkulean WoodsUnchained #16: Herkulean Woods
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Strong California Common with spruce and maple syrup
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
8.2% ABV
77 IBU

Aroma: Bright fruity notes dominate. The blueberry-like aroma of spruce. Hop spiciness like Indian lemon pickle. Low caramel, bread crust, and toasty malt stays just below the surface.

Appearance: Medium amber/copper and clear. Full, dense, creamy, ivory head with excellent retention. Leaves lace on the glass.

Flavor: Flavor is all malt at first – toffee, burnt caramel, and toasted bread. High melanoidin character. There is plenty of malt flavor, but not a lot of sweetness. That same blueberry spruce carries through from the aroma along with a hint of pine. Maple stays very low, noticeable mostly in the finish. Some buttery kettle caramelization. Bitterness is medium-high. Hop flavors present a Hallertauesque lemon-pickle spiciness as in the aroma. A touch of alcohol. Finish is dry and lingers on hop bitterness and burnt caramel melanoidin.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-high body. Medium carbonation. Some warming.

Overall Impression: A heavy dose of toasty, high-kilned malts – the kind I like. Maple could be a bit stronger, but then again, maybe I don’t actually want that. I’m happy with the malt. A rich and tasty treat that will go well with a chill fall night. Fire pit on the patio, anyone?

The official release for Herkulean Wood happens Tuesday, September 9th from 5-7pm at McKenzie Pub in Minneapolis. Other events are scheduled over the next couple weeks. Check the Summit event calendar for information.

Schell’s Arminius Hoppy Pale Lager

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Not known for aggressively hopped beers, Schell’s has been playing with hops a lot lately. First was the Citra Fresh-hop pilsner. Then there was Emerald Rye, a most IPA like amber lager. The Pilsner 30th Anniversary 12-pack had a version of the great Schell’s Pils hopped with Mandarina Bavaria hops – a new variety from Germany. Now comes Arminius, a 70-IBU, massively dry-hopped pale lager.

As a fan of traditional German-style lagers, I take this trend with mixed emotions. On the one hand it’s good to see Schell’s trying new things. On the other, there really is nothing like a good pilsner.

Here’s my notes:

ArminiusArminius
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: Hoppy Lager
Serving Style: 16 oz. can
6.5% ABV
70 IBU

Aroma: Lime citrus and spice overlay doughy malt. A deeper hop note of mandarin oranges or dried mango hovers beneath. Balanced. Bright. Sprightly.

Appearance: Medium gold and brilliantly clear. A full stand of fluffy, white foam with excellent retention.

Flavor: Assertively bitter, but balanced. Although hops dominate the flavor profile, malt is not forgotten. Citrus – lime and lemon. Floral. Dried tropical fruits. Underlying, bready malt flavors with medium-low sweetness. The finish is dry and sharp. Crisp and clean.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium to medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: This is a hoppy beer that I can really wrap my tongue around. It’s lively, refreshing, and very easy to drink. Despite 70 IBUs, it doesn’t tax the tongue. Hoppy enough for IPA fans, but lager-like enough to satisfy the likes of me.