Tag: IPA

Ballast Point – Grapefruit Sculpin Review

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Grapefruit SculpinAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Ballast Point
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.0%
Cost: $5 (10oz)
Glassware: Water Goblet (Tulip)
Temp: 55°F
Availability: Variable Times
Purchased@: Friendly Greek

Quick Take: This is a west coast beer specifically made to satisfy the bitter is better crowd. If your idea of a great IPA is honeyed Chillwave or Hopslam, stay far away. But if bitter grapefruit is your thing, meet your new beer king. For me, it takes one of my favorite drinking IPAs and turns it into a one note bore of bitter grapefruit peel that lacks the juicy grapefruit I crave.

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Stone Brewing – 18th Anniversary IPA Review

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Stone 18th AnniversaryAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Stone Brewing
Style: Brown IPA
ABV: 8.5%
Cost: $11 (24oz)
Glassware: Tulip, Pint
Temp: 45°F
Availability: Limited (One and done)
Purchased@: The Fridge

Quick Take: Impressive malt and lemon/orange body the rampages through your mouth to the delight of this IPA lover…at first. Your mileage will vary depending on how intense you like the lemony sweetness of your beer and your feelings towards West Coast IPAs. Not really a bitter is better crowd beer either as the bitterness is along for the ride when this lemon comet of a beer takes off across your taste buds. I’m glad to have tried it, but the one bottle is enough for me this year.

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Episode 13 – Southern Tier – Fuse Box

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Episode 13 of Drew’s Brews Reviews is here! The beer review show you never knew you wanted and no one needs. I mix it up this episode by trying the “concept case” from Southern Tier called the Fuse Box. Southern Tier is essentially repackaging three of their standard beers and asking its customers to blend them together to create various concoctions. The cynical among us might see this a marketing gimmick, but I toss that aside and put my taste buds on the line by mixing an IPA, Ale, and roasty Porter with tasty results. And yes, I freakin’ nailed that pun about “mixing it up” before you even knew it was a pun. BOOM!

Ep 14 — Firestone 17th Anniversary Beer (Maybe — Footage is Blurry)

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Fat Head’s Brewery – Head Hunter IPA Review

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Head Hunter IPAAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Fat Head’s Brewery
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Cost: $6.00 (12oz)
Glassware: Tulip, Spiegelau
Temp: 50°F
Availability: Year Round
Purchased@: Capone’s Bottle Shop

Quick Take: This is like a battle between East and West Coast IPAs with the bitter, hoppy East winding up victorious. I normally like my IPAs to have a better fruit/malt presence with balanced bitterness, but I can’t fault the bitter-is-better crowd if this is one of their favs. For me, a solid IPA that I will have again any time, but at $6 a bottle, I won’t be going out of my way to add this to my regular drinking beers.

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Parkway Brewery – Get Bent IPA Review

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photo 1 (1)All You Need to Know

Brewery:  Parkway Brewing
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.2%
Cost: $1.86 (12 oz)
Glassware: Tulip
Serving Temp: 55°
Availability: Year Round
Purchased@: Shenadoah Hops

Quick Take: This IPA seems to be out of balance. If you like your IPAs with a malty caramel wallop followed by a rippy and earthy thud of hops, seek this one out. I’m sure there will be plenty of people that enjoy what this beer has to offer, but I’m not really one of them.

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