American IPA
HooDoo Brewing

 

the locals get pretty excited about this one, a favorite for sure in the area, and i get it, its clean, bitter, and old school, im not sure im passionate about it, but it definitely is one of the better and more true west coast style ipa types i had while in alaska recently, only my second beer from these guys, i wanted to badly to hit up the brewery but we ran out of time! next time for sure. this is balanced in the traditional sense, more malt to it than most, but that supports what must be near 100 ibu on the bitterness, so it works. a little copper color to this, not quite amber, not that dark, but darker than is trendy right now, clear though, and frothy headed from the tap, somewhat unremarkable looking, but well enough refined to be appealing. pine in the nose, a c varietal complexion to me, woody and lumber forward like centennial can be, a spicy cascade, even the bitter citrus of chinook, not sure what all is in here, but i would start with these or something similar, old school and intense, fresh though, peppy, and with obvious grapefruit, juniper, and pine character, and the taste is right there too. i like the nutty grain base, sweet only for a second and right in the middle, rather clean ferment, drier at the swallow, high bitterness and oily texture too from the hops, slightly toasted and fuller bodied as these go, all barley i would guess, cozy and wintery ipa nice for this time of year, somewhat familiar, very northwestern or californian and like something ninkasi or stone or somebody similar has done a million times, a compliment, but its not distinct enough to really move me. that said, the quality is there and i enjoyed this quite well. need to definitely hit up the brewery when i am back in town! this is hearty and satisfying.

On draft at Banks Alehouse in Fairbanks. Poured a clear, golden amber color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left sticky rings of lace on the glass. It smelled of toasted caramel, pine and citrus fruits. Sweet caramel & toffee taste, a citrusy bite and some pine.

-Enjoyed at Hoo Doo brewery, Fairbanks, Alaska 2020 on draft, thus sadly closing out my Alaskan beer tour of 2020 til we meet again.

A: Dark orange has a big creamy marshmallow head that is rocky and strong. Small carbonation factor from the draft pour, has a tan head with strong and lasting retention. Nice decorative lace pattern is left behind on the vessel.

S: Sweet floral hop notes from the nose, orange blossom and soft citrus scents are complimentary, not overbearing. Balanced with some light fresh pine needles. Strength is rather light to medium for me.

T: Sweet caramel malt base, sugary toastiness is balanced with some grassy pine hops, semi-dry and of mid bittering level. Flowery edge, toasted dry grains, with some bittering flowery afterfeel. Homogeneous hoppiness, hard to distinguish individual quality, but blends rather well for casual drinking.

M: Medium body, nice caramel resistance, softly carbonated.

O: Overall has a modest showing of flavor with a dry hop followup. Finish is grassy, some fresh powdery grains, with a bit of caramel malt. Smooth drinkability goes down really quickly on the outdoor drinking garden at Hoo Doo.

 

 

 

The appearance was a nice looking hazy amber color with a decent transparency about it. There’s a nice lacing sliding right on into the beer. The smell had a nice citrus to piney blend of bitterness just rolling super nicely into a nice cleansing sweet maltiness ( English? , didn’t they just make an English IPA that I just had today? That’s okay, still good for the most part). The taste was mainly sweet through the citrus hops and then allows a really nice sweet maltiness to invade but not distract, combines very nicely. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. The carbonation was somewhat sharp but not overbearing. I say this was good for its style. Overall, if anything, this AIPA balanced well.