New Belgium Ranger IPA

I was not terribly impressed with this beer at first. Oh, another pine-grapefruity IPA. But over time, this beer has grown on me.

Guess its a good thing I picked up a 6-pack.

Here's a quick rundown of New Belgium's Ranger IPA statistics:  ABV = 6.5%.  IBUs = 70.  Hops consist of Chinook, Simcoe, and Cascade.  Malts are pale malt and Caramalt 120L.

Here's what I've come to enjoy about this beer:

Sierra Nevada - Southern Hemisphere Harvest

Today is the first day of real Autumn temperatures at my house. My outdoor thermometer is sheltered and always seems to read a little high. This morning it read 40F (4.5C). The house dropped down to 64F (18C).

So I spent this morning getting the house ready for winter. Mainly this means covering the evaporative cooler and making sure the boiler still works.

After all that work, I decided to crack open something refreshing: Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2012.

This beer uses only freash hops from New Zealand: Pacific Hallertau, Motueka and Southern Cross.

I had it with some left over spinach, chicken, & parmesan pizza from last night.  Mmmm... nothing better than spinach pizza.

Wing Nutz - Wings & Beer

Wing Nutz is a local chain in Salt Lake. It's a place I like to frequent to get my hot wings fix.

These guys have quite a variety of sauces and they aren't overly vinegary, like you might get at a Chili's or a Wingers (another local chain).

Also, they strictly do not fry their wings. I've had some sauces that are really good & some that are bad. I can't remember the bad ones, I don't order them anymore.

Actually, I don't order anymore. I let my wife order the wing combinations, because I can't remember.  So I'm guessing here:  chili garlic, parmesan curry, jalapeno honey BBQ, traditional, and southern hotties.  You can also get them as either chicken or "hog" wings.  Hog wings are pork shanks.

Squatters - India Pale Ale

Finally I have gotten to another new-to-me local beer.

If you want a quality IPA that isn't trying hard to over-do-it, isn't hopped to the point the enamel peels off your teeth, and isn't so aggressive that you think you've juiced a pine tree into a grapefruit, then this might be the beer for you.

It has a simple, geometric label. It's not stretching to make a pun with the name. Hops are simple and straight forward: a little grapefruit and a little pine (yes even I can take pine when it is a complementary flavor). Even though the hops are American, it's a hopping rate I more associate with English IPAs or Bitters. Neither are overpowering on the nose or the palate. The ABV is 6.5%, which again puts it middle of the road for the style.  It pours a nice copper with a white head. 

It's a straight up classic American IPA.

Squatters Hop Rising – My Gateway IPA

I was at a conference two and a half years ago.  The morning of the first day of the conference was filled with a particularly long and grueling meeting.  When lunch finally rolled around, I needed a break from the conference and a beverage, so I walked from the convention center to a conveniently located bar.

While looking through the drink menu, I saw a new beer from a local brewery that I had not seen before:  Hop Rising by Squatters.  I didn’t know anything about it, so I ordered it.

When I first looked at the bottle, I was a bit skeptical on whether I would like it or not.  It was an Imperial IPA.  I wasn’t much of a fan of the IPA style genre.  My general impression at the time is that too many PAs and IPAs are over C-hopped, too citrusy, too piney, and unbalanced.

To my wonderment and surprise, I loved this beer.  The first IPA that I really liked.  It’s a 9% beer with 75 IBUs.  But the thing is, it isn’t an overpowering flavor and isn’t the same-old IPA hops that everyone uses.  It packs in Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook.

Epic Brewing Spiral Jetty IPA

Epic Brewing's Classic Series IPA - Spiral Jetty,named after the sculpture built in the Great Salt Lake by Robert Smithson (thepinkness of the water in the photo is from naturally occurring sulfur bacteriain the north arm of the Great Salt Lake).

Epic is currently my favorite local brewer.  When the Utah changed their lawsallowing for breweries to sell greater than 4.0% ABV beer direct from thebreweries, it changed the landscape of the beer scene.  Some breweries seemed thrive on thechange, while others seem to have lagged behind.

Epic came on the scene shortly after the change inthe law went into effect.  Theirbrewing philosophy is that they will only brew greater then 4.0% ABV beers.  I believe that their lowest strengthbeer is the Mid Mountain Mild at 4.5% to 5% ABV.

I’m not a big IPA drinker.  I know, it’s a sin to say it on IPA Day2012.  But it’s true.  It is rare that I find an IPA that Ilike.  For similar beers, I tend tofavor its bigger brother, the Imperial IPA.   In order to get the higher ABVs of IIPAs, brewers tendto use a maltier backbone and more residual sweetness is left in the beer.

Its even more rare for me to find a simcoe hoppedIPA that I like.  I know, another heresy.  But it is also true:  I don’t like a lot of pine flavor in myfood or drinks.

This beer has an excellent copper color and thehops highlight  citrus, piney, andfloral flavors and aroma.

I should mention that I have a little bit ofdifficulty differentiating between bittering “flavor” hops and dry “aroma”hops.  I tend to taste themboth.  Aroma hops come in softerwaves than flavor hops.

Epic Brewing has three other variations on thisbeer:  (Elevated Series) CopperCone Pale Ale, (Elevated Series) Hopulent IPA, and (Exponential Series)Imperial IPA.  Copper Conetypically ranges from 6% to 7%ABV and I tend to think of it as a Pale Ale Extra– meaning half way between a Pale Ale and an IPA in hopping.

Hopulent IPA weighs in at 8 to 9% and averages closeto a pound of dry hops per barrel (31 US gallons).  It is much more of an aggressive beer than either SpiralJetty or Copper Cone.

There aren’t many of Epic’s beers that I haven’thad the pleasure of trying.  TheExponential Series Imperial IPA is one of them.  Rest assured, I will steadily working my way through theirlist of beers