Vernal Vine
Town Hall Brewery

i always sort of thought it was all english style beers with these guys, so i was surprised and also delighted to see this american ipa on the tap list at the brewery. fun beer, just a little bit sturdier than the classic ipa, both in terms of bitterness and abv, but also in terms of structure and hop potency, its a very bold beer, but also somehow real drinkable, which i think is the real success of this one. quite golden in color, maybe a shade darker than that, but definitely not a copper colored or malty ipa in that way. the hops are odd, because its dosed real heavy, american style, but the varietals seem more old world, somewhat lower in immediate alpha acid, more grassy and earthy, even spicy than they are citrus driven or anything. thats true in the flavor too, but the bitterness really is there. hints of photosynthetic vegetal freshness and also some lemon pledge pungency. nice fresh slightly toasted malt flavor, more depth than the color suggests this element should have. carbonation is great, and the beer is overall very hearty. would it be safe to call this a minnesota style ipa? either way it was great.