Cheers! ::Drink:: [Repeat]: Week Long Tribute to #IPADay

Monday, August 1, 2011

Week Long Tribute to #IPADay

On Thursday August 4 the beer drinkers of the Social Media world will be gathering to celebrate #IPADay all across the country. In honor of this event I've decided to sample some of the best India Pale Ale's from a few of the best American craft brewers. For the Thursday night post I will actually be at the SweetWater brewery for their celebration. They've got a tap-takeover with a huge number of IPA variations for tasting. They are one of 10 breweries across the country who are taking part. If you want to join in on the party, visit the page for the nationwide event at [http://ipaday.eventbrite.com/].

I've touched briefly on what an IPA is in my earlier post of [Red Brick Double IPA], but I feel that this wildly popular brew deserves a littler further description. To paraphrase from various resources, which are listed below, here is what should make up an IPA:

A prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, and/or fruity character derived from the hops
Color ranges from medium gold to medium reddish copper
Medium-high to very high hop bitterness, although the malt flavors should provide balance

Now that you know what to expect when you crack open this delectably daunting style of brew, what do you say we dive right into the first of this week's IPAs? I've decided to start off with the India Pale Ale from a personal favorite brewery of mine, Southern Tier.

This one is unlike any other IPA that I have had thus far, but it still very much fits the bill. When you pour this into your glass you can immediately smell a very sweet malty aroma. Almost like a honey/molasses combination. When you take your first sip that malt profile transforms into the hoppy & bitter aspects that balance out the sweetness. It's got citrusy, piney, almost buttery notes. You can taste each characteristic yet they all come together amazing. Every sip I take I pick up on new flavors. Without a doubt this an excellent start to a week of IPA's and #IPADay.

Southern Tier uses 4 varieties of hops, and 4 types of malts to develop their IPA but a quick search left me unable to find out which specific varieties were used. As I taste more and more beers I hope to be able to hone in on the different types of hops, grains, malts, etc. (More reason to keep coming back to the site? I think so.)

From the get-go Southern Tier has been making some incredible beers. You can see from ratebeer.com [here] that they have 25 beers rated 90 or above, on a scale to 100. And it's not like they've been around forever and just figured out what beers taste good... they started in 2002. Not even a decade into the game and they are knocking it out of the park. Rest assured this will not be the last post I have for these brewers.