#brut ipa

[nobeerreviews]

Your brain on BEER vs. COFFEE - I Love Coffee

How coffee and beer affect your brain

Today on NoScienceReviews: a nice infograph about the effects of beer and coffee on our brain (provided we have one).

But honestly, who drinks good beer or good coffee for their effects on the brain??? There are cheaper and more effective ways to get wasted (hello Smirnoff) or coffeinated (go go Aldi energy power!), no need to spend almost ten bucks on a sourish fruity dry bitter Eye of the Brut Holder IPA from Creative Creature, or to sip a fine espresso from a perfect looking China bone mug... or rather...

[thedaily-beer]

Kennebunkport Brewing Mighty Cascade Brut IPA (Picked up at Trader Joe’s). A 3 of 4. Smells primarily of light citrus and light grain. Quite dry, as you’d expect, but not quite as crisp as some Brut IPAs. Still, there’s not much sweetness, and only a mild amount of bitterness in the finish. Quite easy-drinking and refreshing.

[whatchudrinkin]

Secrets and Subterfuge

I’ve forgotten how great a really subtle beer can be. This new Brut IPA is brewed with apples and fermented with both plain ale yeast and champagne yeast. It’s incredibly effervescent. The flavor never punches you in the face. A white grape is suggested in only every other sniff. A hint of apple is just perceptible, like the skins of a granny smith left on the counter. The apricot notes don’t taste like ripe fruit. It tastes like you left a shriveled, dried apricot in a glass of water overnight and then took a sip in the morning. It’s subtle. The finish is bitter and dry and makes great use apple-y tannins. It’s great. 

But the thing that really stuck out to me is who brewed the beer. It’s labeled a pH Experiment by Craft Brew Alliance. The CBA isn’t a brewery; the CBA owns breweries. It’s the parent company of Widmer, Redhook, and Kona. CBA, which is itself partially owned by Anheuser-Busch, controls distribution and logistics for all the member breweries. Thanks to the CBA Kona is brewed here in Portland at the Widmer brewery, not in Hawaii. The CBA has never itself made a beer. Why is this incredible beer being sold as a CBA product and not part of an existing brand?

According to a recent article on the alliance on Good Beer Hunting, “CBA partnered with the Yale School of Management … and this summer launched the ’pH Experiment,’ which provided 50 participants access to a new brand every month if they were to provide feedback on their impressions and alcohol buying habits.” So why is on shelves now? To see if the beer sells. Then they can give it a brand. Does Brut IPA make sense as a Widmer beer? Maybe it would make more sense under the Kona brand. When next you see it, this Brut IPA could be sporting a Wynwood logo. Who knows.

[binghamtonbeer]

Ommegang Brut IPA - As a long time Ommegang drinker still strange to see them getting into the trendy IPA game first with their NEIPA and now with this.  

[birdsy-purplefishes]

alt-J x Signature Brew – Absolutely No Worries Brut IPA Beer

[thedaily-beer]

Pizza Boy’s Hop Test #1 Brut IPA on tap at Guppy’s in Conshohocken, PA. A 3 of 4. Interesting take with a hazy brut IPA -- smells of a lot of citrus and tropical notes, and as you’d expect, the body is pretty dry. Still, it might be my mind, but there’s some residual sweetness amidst the slightly creamier, medium body. Mostly lemon citrus pokes through in the body, and this has a firmly dry and bitter finish, as you’d expect.

[thedaily-beer]

Two Roads Dry and Mighty Brut IPA (Picked up at a Weis in Conshohocken, PA). A 3 of 4. Smells of citrus and just a touch of light grain and some faint herbal notes. Very dry up front and throughout, as expected, and has some champagne and white-wine like fruity qualities in the body. Not a ton of bitterness in the extremely dry finish.

[thedaily-beer]

Beachwood & Stone’s Beachstone Brut IPA on tap at Stone at SAN. A 3 of 4. Not a ton like many other Brut IPAs I’ve had, as there still seems to be a nice little bit of residual sweetness to it. Some nice citrus and tropical notes in the nose, and a clean, dry body that is far more balanced than many other Brut IPAs.