There’s no way you didn’t read that in his voice. How can you not read “Oh Yea” and not picture Randy “Macho Man” Savage? Or hear his gravelly voice yelling that? Its one of the iconic wrestling sounds, like Ric Flair’s “WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” or the glass shattering for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance, or the gong for The Undertaker. You know exactly what’s gonna happen.

Wrestling might be a grown man’s soap opera, and it might also be beautiful, choreographed gladiator like ballet, but its also a wonderful story telling platform and media, and its also a host to some amazing characters, personas, and people. Macho Man Randy Savage is one of those people.

If you were a 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s child, you can name some of the greats of your generation I’m sure. For the 80s, I can think of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Randy Macho Man Savage, George the Animal Steele, Harley Race, Junkyard Dog, Sting, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Ultimate Warrior. For the 90s you have The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, RVD, Sabu, Taz, Mick Foley, Kane, Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, Goldberg.

Interesting fun note; Pilger Ruh Brewing’s one co-owner and partner is Anthony Deppen. A professional wrestler who will be performing at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle (2020) this year. (Super cool dude, down to earth, big craft beer fan, and great wrestler.)

But anyway… I digress. We’re here to discuss beer, not wrestling.

No… really, we must. I insist on it!

Oh… we’re doing this bit again, aren’t we? Like I did in The Growfather beer review? I know the average attention span for most readers is only about three minutes…. so….

Sigh. I was gonna say, ‘so I better hurry up and review the beer’…. but… ugh… must we do this bit for a second time? Really?

Double sigh. French sigh – Le Sigh.

Ok, I’m just gonna push through and do the beer review….

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat

First, I want to thank Bobby Nacho for inviting me out to Couch Brewery on a day when they weren’t even open. He gave me a tour of the place, let me sample all the beers on tap, and even sent me on my way with a four pack – Macho Man, Atomic Clock, Sofia Quemando, and Morning Wood. (This might be the first and last time anyone ever says that Bobby gave them ‘morning wood’……) Anyhoo… you can read about the brewery tour here: Brewery Tour of Couch Brewery. This was part of my trip to Indianapolis, you can check out the article on the second day of my trip (which included the tour of Couch Brewery, me visiting Vandergrift, Pittsburgh, and Washington) here – The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two.

Couch Brewery is listed as a micro brewery on Untappd. They have 120 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.59 (as of 11.25.20). They are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Now that the background is out of the way, onto the beer itself….

This has a reddish, light, wheat beer appearance. Its primarily clear but a bit dark red, and so becomes a bit opaque / cloudy / hazy in some light and as you drink it. There is a rich frothy, creamy head to this, that leaves a nice lacing on the glass.

Aroma is very heavy hibiscus, raspberry, and grain. You can very heavy raspberry and hibiscus, with the grain bill giving it a body to cling to. There is some lime aroma though its a bit fainter. Overall its floral, and pretty strong – not overpowering or pungent, but a strong floral smell that’s inviting and wanting you to drink.

I even told him at the bar when we were sampling all the beers, that I wasn’t a fan of hibiscus, that I’ve had it in a few select beers (the most notable that I can think of being Crimson Pistil; and I was not a fan) and never really cared for it. Just a flavor that I have found that I am not too keen on. But oh boy… or should I say OHHHH YEAAAAAAA…… this blew me away. Maybe its the raspberry? Or the lime? Or that its a wheat beer rather than an IPA (like the Crimson Pistil), but I was absolutely blown away by this beer, and immediately loved it. There is a lot of raspberry flavor to this, and a lot more lime than I expected from the aroma. Its got a lot of berry, a lot of floral, and a good bit of lime – giving it almost a zesty, citrus, zip to it, a bit of a kick to it. I do really love raspberries in beer (really, any berries other than strawberries, I love blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, mulberries, raspberries, etc.; just no strawberries), and this uses them very well. This is fruity, and floral, and from the raspberries, a bit tart, not fully diving into ‘tart – sour’ country, but just a wee bit of tartness and zip to give it some added taste. It is interesting for a wheat beer, that other than a little bit of the grain taste; it doesn’t taste like a wheat beer (primarily because of how much the floral and fruit flavors overpower the grain). All in all, this is a wonderful, and delicious, and interesting beer, and shows how you can bend styles to be interesting, new, and still very tasty. And hell, it even turned me into a fan of a hibiscus beer, who knew? I recommend it, and I recommend you check out Couch Brewery too. Especially on Black Friday for their Black Stout AHT 2020 event. You won’t want to miss that or this delicious beer!

My Untappd Rating: ****.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 11.25.20)

Speaking of Black Friday, do check out Couch Brewery’s website (Couch Brewery) to find out more information on their Black Stout AHT 2020 event. It sounds amazing! You can also fin out more on their Facebook page – Couch Brewery.

You can also find out more about my trip to Indianapolis, and getting to tour Couch Brewery, by the links below:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
• Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, The Meadows Casino
• Day Three:
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

Brewery Tour:

• Couch Brewery Tour

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow, and a safe Drinksgiving or Friendsgiving or whatever you are doing today, and a safe Black Friday on Friday. There is a lot of great local small brewery options for Black Friday; you don’t have to go crazy for the Goose Island (couch AB In-Bev) Bourbon County Stouts. Either way, whatever you do, stay safe and socially distanced! Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Pilger Ruh Brewing is currently looking for your help. They have finally found the location for their future home, in Pottsville Pennsylvania, they just need your help to get this dream up off the ground and get those taps flowing.

As with any older building, its going to need a lot of renovations, innovations, changes, and modifications to get it turned into a thriving business… let alone a bustling brewery. Which is one of the great thing about craft breweries – turning old buildings into brand new beautiful rustic but modern restaurants and breweries. Look at how Rubber Soul has turned the old police station (borough office building) in Hummelstown into their brewery. Or how Tattered Flag renovated their old building in Middletown. Its a common theme for many breweries; take an old building in a town they like, and renovate and modify it to meet their needs. It preserves the building, gives the brewery a unique look, helps the town, and helps the brewery. Seems like a win all around right?

Right.

So let’s help out Pilger Ruh Brewing get the money they need so they can do the same in Pottsville!

How can you help? Well, its really simple. Similar to a GoFundMe page, they have a indigogo page. You go there, donate what you can, and it all adds up. Want to help Pilger Ruh Brewing out and help them hit their goals and meet their dreams? Click here to donate: Pilger Ruh Brewing IndieGoGo Page.

Why should you help out?

Well…. firstly, you would be helping a brand new brewery start up. You would be helping brewers, community members, friends, and family meet their dreams and achieve their goals. And secondly… you’ll get some perks out of it too!

Some perks include: free t-shirts, hoodies, limited edition glasswear, tickets to conventions, discounts on mug club memberships, getting to name some of their fermenters and tanks, brewing with them, hats, and getting to name some of their beers.

Thats a lot of incentive just right there to help them out.

Want to read their story? (You can go to their IndieGoGo page to read it) or read the following:

“Pilger Ruh Brewing is a new craft brewery coming to Schuylkill County PA! The whole dream started three years ago in the summer of 2017 when owners Tyler Budwash, Anthony Deppen, Conlan Budwash, along with friends Matt and Alex started brewing together.  We quickly joined the beer festival circuit and received great reviews from consumers all over the state.  Our brewery has over 14 years of combined brewing experience and we plan to bring great local beers of all styles to Pottsville PA in 2021!  Co-Owner Tyler has been homebrewing since 2013, started the Schuylkill County Brew Fest, and has been to over 250 different breweries in the US, a graduate of Kutztown University where he has a BA in Political Science.  He currently lives in Schuylkill County with his 2 children and girlfriend Corine.  Co-Owner Anthony Deppen has been homebrewing since 2017, world traveled professional wrestler, currently lives in New Cumberland PA with his wife Cassidy where they are expecting their first child in November 2020.  Head Brewer Conlan Budwash has been the assistant brewer at Snitz Creek the last 4 years, worked at Troegs Brewing Company the last 5 years, lives in Pine Grove, and graduated from the Brew Science course through HACC.

We started this campaign to help raise some money to cover additional renovations to complete our taproom and gain some extra working capital upon opening. (we aren’t asking for a lot).  Getting this brewery off the ground has been financially challenging for us, but we have faith that we can make this work no matter what the situation is. Instead of asking for money outright, we want to offer you a number of different options where you gain something as well.  No matter what you decide to give we are very appreciative of you for that and each and every person that has supported us on this journey.

Our goal is to raise at least $25,000 to complete our renovations (floors, walls, bathrooms, reinforcing the basement etc). As we said earlier, we want to offer you something for helping us.  Some of the perks we have lined up are limited edition glasses, shirts, deals on mug club memberships, naming tanks, brewing with us, exclusive beers, hoodies, hats, free tickets to events ran by us and more!  We set our goal a bit higher than we wanted to, so no matter what amount we reach, ALL proceeds will be going into getting the taproom ready for early next year.

The brewery plans to be very community oriented, which is why we chose to move our operations to Pottsville PA.  We want to bring something new to the area and help it gain more traction and give back to the community as much as we could.  Five years ago there weren’t any actual craft breweries in Schuylkill County, now after we open there will be technically six. Anyone that has had our beers over the last 3.5 years knows what to expect when we open, and that’s quality beers.  Our beers have been speaking for themselves at each and every event and we plan to continue that quality when we open next year.

We are aware that starting a new business comes with a ton of risks, especially when it comes to beer.  I mean we could fail in a year and be gone, but we will not let that happen because we cannot fail and we will not fail.  We chose the not so expensive route for all of our equipment, we bought things that made sense with our budget, not dropping thousands of dollars to look good or buy huge name brands.  This project has been trying to get off the ground  for 2 years now, we were unable to obtain funding from quite some time before we were able to save up a lot of our own money and gain a small SBA loan for our equipment.  Unfortunately COVID19 set up back a few months with getting our plans and permits ready, but we are now ready to go.  We’re very happy to be in the situation we are in now and want to finish up renovations so we can open and start paying back all of our debts.  Every last penny will be going towards the brewery, whether it be our glassware or something as small as a floor mat. 

If our perks aren’t something you’re interested in you can still help.  We would greatly appreciate you sharing our Facebook page and inviting all of your friends to like it.  Give us a Like on Instagram, tell all your friends and family about us, and when we open come say hi!

Thank you!

-Tyler, Tony, and Conlan”

The building’s location is 213 N. Centre Street in Pottsville, PA. They have quite a few renovations they need to do to make the building into a brewery. Namely flooring, walls, reinforcing the basement, drainage, ditches, new bathrooms, etc.

Their current goal is 25,000$. As of posting time (9.23.20 – 10PM) they are up to 3,468$. So there is a ways to go, and every penny will help add up!

You most likely have met, known, or heard of Pilger Ruh Brewing, or the Budwash brothers from the various events and brewfests. They are typically a staple at the Litiz, Mount Hope, Lancaster, and Schukyll Brewfests (they actually run the Schukyll Brewfest). They are also usually seen at Ffej of July, at the Kegs and Eggs at Rotunda, and many other events, brewfests, and charity events. They have been working at Troegs Brewing and Snitz Creek Brewery, behind the scenes things, and as of now, brewing for Snitz Creek. You can also find their own Pilger Ruh beers on tap at the Snitz Creek Annville (the old Funck’s – right next to the Fort Indiantown Gap Cemetery) location.

I’ve gotten to know all three quite well over the years, from different events, from the Central PA Whalerz, from Tyler’s love of the civil war, all three’s love for professional wrestling (Anthony Deppen is actually a professional wrestler – Tony Deppen – who wrestles for promotions such as Ring of Honor [ROH], amongst many others), and their collaborations with Tattered Flag.

They are all a bunch of great dudes, so let’s help them make this happen. The world needs more great beers and more great breweries and brewers. So lets band together and help them out!

You can follow them on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

You can read our interview with Tyler Budwash here. Brewer Interview Series: Tyler Budwash.

Some beer reviews of their collaborations:

• Beer Review: Social Distancing
• Beer Review: Should Have Put Him In Custardy
• Beer Review: Abbra Collabra 6-Way Collaboration: Banana Milkshake

So let’s get this done guys! Donate now!

Donation Link: Pilger Ruh Brewing IndieGoGo

Links:

• Pilger Ruh Brewing
• Pilger Ruh Brewing – IndieGoGo – Donations

Lots more stuff happening here with the blog. Look for an interview with Scott Smith (of East End Brewing) soon. An interview with a Cape May brewing scientist. More beer reviews. A Poconos trip soon. (Finally!) The YouTube Video. Highway Manor’s Opening. And lots more. So be sure to stay here and check it all out. So be sure to follow, like, subscribe, and follow us on our social media pages – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Thanks!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

As soon as I saw that Breski’s had the Stone Cold beer…. I was grabbing the keys and jumping in the car for the drive over. I picked up a four-pack of this, as well as a four-pack of the FVCK COVID beer which I did a beer review of previously. This is another one of those beers that falls into the category of ‘got it because of marketing’ over got it because of what hops are in it, or flavors, or adjuncts, or knowing the brewery’s reputation, etc. Like some bad beers I’ve had, like Trial by Wombat, or Jon Voight’s Car, where I got them because of can art or name of the beer – I got this because its the Stone Cold beer.

Early 2000s, high school me was a huge wrestling fan. We watched each RAW, each SmackDown, even the minor shows like Heat, Velocity, Metal, etc. We also watched TNA when they started up with the Wednesday PPVs and their Impact show. We watched WCW at its tail end when it ended and WWF bought them out in 2001. We were big fans of ROH as well, me and D. Scott were at Final Battle 2004. D. Scott, R. Dibeler, and myself have been to a couple of shows, the more notable ones being WWE Unforgiven 2003 and WWE Royal Rumble 2004. Stone Cold was one of our favorites, mine in particular, along with (sad to say now due to everything that’s happened – but – Chris Benoit), Taz, RVD, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, (Rory’s favorite was always Kane) – and that’s just listing the WWF/E wrestlers. Not getting into the indies or puroresu or lucha libre and stuff.

And this might surprise some…. but Stone Cold Steve Austin knows a little bit about drinking…..

Maybe…. just a little.

So what better beer to do a review of on National IPA day than the Stone Cold Steve Austin IPA beer?!

Beer: Broken Skull
Brewery: El Segundo Brewing Company
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: 67
Untappd Description: Broken Skull IPA: A bad-ass 6.7% India Pale Ale designed by Steve Austin and ESBC for the working man & woman. It features Citra, Cascade, and Chinook hops to deliver big flavor with an easy finish. Now stop reading and start enjoying this awesome beer! Cheers! -Steve

According to their Untappd page, El Segundo Brewing Company (ESBC) is from El Segundo California, United States, and is a micro brewery. (I honestly thought they were from Texas, not California, so I learned something new by clicking their Untappd page.) They have 286 unique beers for a 3.87 global average rating (as of 8.6.20). Their Untappd Description reads: “El Segundo Brewing Company is the product of founder, Rob Croxall’s love and passion for beers. More than anything, Rob has a knack for hoppy beers. Being a brewer, he decided leave his longtime career in aerospace financing to establish his own microbrewery. Rob invested in the Los Angeles area. El Segundo Brewing Company specializes in hops that provide outstanding and unique bitter flavors of beers. The brewery focuses on its personal dry hopping brewing method that produces fine aromas. Rob’s great love for hops has become the motivation behind the success of El Segundo Brewing Company today.”

Lets jump right into this review and tackle the beer itself. Appearance is a clear, bubbly pilsner / light West Coast looking IPA. Not very dark, not very malty, completely clear minus the bubbles (very well carbonated), this honestly looks like it could have been a pilsner, or lager, or a lite beer – Miller or Coors – when poured out. Big foamy head to it that just kept bubbling up.

Aroma is light hoppy, and not a whole lot more. Which is pretty typical for an IPA; especially American / West Coast style, etc. There’s no adjuncts, nothing added to it, no ‘milkshake’ or ‘New England’ – ness to it, its a straight legit IPA, in the old vein. The hop combination of citra, cascade, and chinook is pretty distinguishable. I grow cascade and chinook hops at home, and I can pick out their aromas pretty distinctly. Citra is also another easy to pick out hop aroma and flavor, mainly because its name is a pretty big indicator. There is no other real aromas to this, its just hops and ‘beer is beer’ smell. No malt, no sweetness; just the citrus, grassy, slight lemon, a little bit of pine, that comes from the combination of hops in this.

Flavor… and taste…. is where this falls a bit flat. And no, the beer itself isn’t flat…. its just, there’s not a whole lot here. Its actually pretty bland. Me and D. Scott decided it tasted like a ‘starter IPA’. Do you have a friend who you want to start drinking IPAs, and want to move them away from Miller Lite, Coors Lite, and Yuengling Lager? Then this is the beer for you! And being an easily marketable beer – “The Stone Cold beer!” or “The Stone Cold IPA” it should be an easy pitch for you to get your buddy to drink it. There just sadly isn’t a whole lot going on here flavor wise. Its not bad, there’s no off flavors, nothing tastes horrible, no lingering after taste thats bad…. its just underwhelming. Its watery, its a bit thin, it tastes like hops in water, and not a whole lot much of anything else going on. The hops don’t even come off as that strong and don’t give you a complete kick or gut-punch hop flavor either. The hops give off a slight, very light, citrus flavor, like a lemon peel in water kind of thing, there is a little bit of grassy and earth notes and just a wee bit of a pine / pinecone hop taste, but none of it is severe, or even strong. That isn’t to say this is a horrible beer and you won’t like it, its a perfectly accessible and perfectly fine beer, for 12$ (a little bit less I think, maybe a little over 12.10$ with tax) a four pack, this is a very fine, crushable even (only 6.7% ABV and the light flavor makes it go down easier) beer, that you and a buddy can kill an evening playing video games and drinking this. So in that way it makes for a perfect beer for Stone Cold Steve Austin…. and that’s the bottom line…………….. Because Stone Cold Said So!

Kick.

Stunner.

Ultimately though, my opinion of this, if given the choice between this and the many other options out there, might be closer to Stacy Keibler’s:

My Untappd Rating: ***.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.84 (as of 8.6.20)

I want to think some of that rating bump is namesake and marketing, but maybe others genuinely loved it or at least liked it better than I did. I dunno, if you’ve had it, leave me a comment and let me know what your thoughts were on it. Maybe I’m way off base. Maybe the cans we got were different or off. I dunno, let me know, I’d love to hear from you guys!

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, you can find the links for them at the top and bottom of each page. We’re almost up to 200 Twitter Followers, so please click the follow and like buttons on each of our social media accounts, it adds up and really helps!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

And that’s the bottom line…. because Stone Cold Said So! Austin 3:16 says I just opened a cap of whoop ass on you! WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT?!

Oh…. I could go on all day doing this! Better stop and have another beer. Cheers all!

Happy National IPA Day!

-B. Kline

Well this post was a bit of a long time in coming I suppose. This was meant to be worked on and written and finished many times throughout this week. Sunday night was the usual hang-out at Irgo’s Tavern with co-workers, so that night was definitely a no-go for writing this up. (Especially since then afterwards went back to a co-workers house and watched Elimination Chamber and left his house at 3AM.)

Monday night was a bit busy and hectic as well. A family member was taken to the hospital where she has been since. (Not coronavirus or COVID-19, so don’t worry, I’m not infected. Obviously, I mean no offense to anyone, I’m just using humor to keep things together and keep the stress at bay, much like I use this blog itself.) Tuesday night after work, was the annual co-worker fantasy draft. Typically what ends up happening at these drafts is – my co-workers get my pretty good and drunk and they let me draft for a person who can’t make it. Inevitably that team lands Top 3. Doesn’t matter the sport, baseball or basketball (the ones we do). I don’t even watch basketball, NBA, college, whatever, so I know next to nothing about it, yet the one year I drafted the team that ended up winning. (The guy only made 5 roster moves all season.) I even drafted a guy with the last name DUDLEY solely because I liked the Dudley Boyz; ECW / WWE / TNA / ROH / etc. tag team.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was spent at the hospital. With the daughters. And doing a host of other things; which also consisted of my oldest daughter’s first softball practice of the season. I had walked a combined total of 9 some miles. And this was on a day where I only got home at 4:15 from the festivities the night before. (The fantasy draft, then led to going to a bar doing Irish Car Bombs, then led to hanging out for a bit before getting home.) So needless to say, the week quickly went by and we find ourselves here at Thursday morning.

Not sure how we got here, but all I know is, we made it to this point, and its about time I do this review, and owe it to you guys. You’ve been patiently waiting, so its time I get around and get writing! (I’d say “get off my fat butt”, but I sit to write, so I literally have to sit ON my fat butt to write it.)

So where do we find ourselves at? Ahh yes, reviewing some New Trail beer. Friday night while waiting out my youngest’s ballet class, I was at Funck’s Restaurant in Palmyra. They have a pretty heft selection (56 taps). Found two good New Trail beers on tap, and enjoyed them both immensely. Now, sometimes in the past I’d do this as a double-beer review, and I’m even thinking of doing it now…. but I think I’m going to hold off and make this two separate beer reviews. (In the past I’ve done “Two Beer Review” and “Multiple Beer Review” posts; especially when its the same brewery, at the same location, drank at the same time.) I think going forward with the blog I’m going to restrain from doing that (except perhaps in particular circumstances). I’ll do multiple beer review posts for beer flights I have at breweries, and outside of that always keep it to single beer reviews.

Thus this will be a single beer review and I’ll first cover Icicle by New Trail Brewing; the next post will most likely be the Sticky Barrel Aged Porter I also had by New Trail Brewing there at Funck’s. (Unless I decide to split it up with another beer that I’ve had.)

Let’s get to this!

Beer: Icicle
Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: Icicle is a Hazy IPA brewed with a blend of oats, wheat, & spelt. Drippingly hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo, & Centennial. Expect luscious citrus flavor mixed with that earthy green. Enjoy the long thaw with us.

One thing that can be said for New Trail; they pretty much deliver spot on with their descriptions. If they say a beer tastes like 1930s bubble-gum wrapped in bacon with a hint of ranch dressing; then you better believe thats what it’ll taste like.

Appearance for this is typical straight up hazy New England IPA. (Which is pretty much typical for all New Trail beers; IPA at least; which is their bread and butter anyway.) Turbid, dank, murky, dark orange to orange juice in hue. My friend (D. Scott) ordered the same as his second beer, and his looked a bit more brighter and fluorescent than mine, but same similar appearance, and both very dank and hazy. Certainly no clarity with these beers. Slight bit of sediment, but nothing to extreme.

Aroma is hop… hop… hop bomb through and through. Citrus and strong tropical notes but all hop and all day and all throughout hop. Strong citrus, strong tropical fruit, some stone fruit, late notes of grass.

This is a New Trail IPA, through and through; meaning be prepared for a juicy, strong hoppy, New England hazy style IPA. There is no denying they know their style and ability to make these are great, but you know all this going in, and they confirm it with each new IPA they release. Your not going to get a bad IPA from them… but, overall you also probably are not getting a massive variety of IPA from them. Insofar as I mean that their substituting a few hops for a few different hops and you get a more X (say citrus) flavor and then in the next one you get more Y (say stone fruit) or something similar. They are all GREAT and AMAZING beers. I’ve yet to have had a West Coast IPA from them (not sure if they’ve even made one and released one). And like I’ve said, I’ve yet to have had a BAD beer from them. I do think with NE-IPAs that they all tend to flow together. Substitute Hop 1X for Hop Y, meanwhile keeping hops Hops 2X and 3X the same, and then in beer 2, you substitute Hop 2X for Hop Y2, etc. For just subtle, slight, nuanced variations. But they sell, and they sell good, and you can keep re-naming them all too, and super inflate your ultimate Untappd, Beer Advocate, and other beer rating platform totals. Its a great marketing idea. This isn’t a hounding on them or hating on them, just something I’ve noticed with them, and a few other breweries have done the same. Its not a horrible practice, in fact its downright smart. But enough of that, lets talk the flavor of THIS particular beer.

Like the description says, you are getting oats, wheat, and spelt; so you are getting a hazy, dank, juicy IPA. Haze. Craze. For hops they used simcoe, amarillo, and centennial, giving this a massive amount of tropic flavor. Immediately on sipping you get the tropical juice, up front, coming straight at you, then it leads itself into a bit of stone fruit, a bit dryer, a bit off the sweet side, nothing tangy, nothng off, nothing bitter, but then it ends in the earth, giving you a bit of a grassy, green, earthy finish. Like working through a weird and exotic forest; starting with tropical fruits then seguing into stone fruits before you finish on the forest floor getting the grass and earthyness. This is certainly a fun, full, luscious beer. Its nothing too dry, sweet, or cloying, its just right all over. A fun, tasty beer all around.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.07 (as of 3.12.20)

As I said at the start of this, sorry for the delay in getting this blog post out, as I’m sure you can all understand why. Depending on my night, I might do a second (I know I say this a lot and then it doesn’t happen), or I might fire one off before work tomorrow morning. Saturday, all fingers and toes and other appendages crossed, I will be attending the Kegs & Eggs at Rotunda Brewery / The Batdorf. J. Doncevic will also be there. You can find the event listing here: Kegs & Eggs 2020. Money goes towards Elliot’s CP Journey. So come on out and support a good cause.

In other blog news, I edited the Haze Charmer article to include the links and articles like I said I would at the end of it. Forgot to do that on initial release of the post.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Cheers, prost, and slainte!

-B. Kline