Wren House IPA
Wren House Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the rater below, this is for their recently released Cavalcade IPA, which I believe is a different beer, but which I'm also too lazy to bother creating an entry for. This is a cool IPA because it excels in a couple of categories that are often overlooked. One, it's a wonderful deep copper color, sort of perfectly hazy (in that unfiltered, dry-hopped sort of way, which feels fresh and rustic, rather than the globs-o'-yeast/protein haze that you sometimes see elsewhere), and with an excellent rich head of foam that hangs on in with fine lacing. The other area it really rocks is in the body, which is rich, smooth, yet never cloying or overly filling. It really makes this a decadent sort of IPA, which is a pretty unique approach that they pull off well. The nose and palate are super nice too, to be sure, fresh floral Cascade all up in this mother, maybe the lightest hint of soap, and some sweet, nectary malt. Similar palate that you almost wonder might be getting a little excessively smooth when a welcome hop bite pops up in the finish. Again, a really cool, unique spin on an IPA that, to my mind, sort of exemplifies why fresh hoppy beer is so good. You can imagine something like that being a shell of itself in a bottle stored on a shelf for a month or two. But here at the source, it's awful, awful nice.

Got a growler fill of the latest batch titled Cavalcade. Poured into pint jar a deep honey color, somewhat cloudy with a foamy white persistent head. Has a clear full hoppy aroma, nicely balanced with a definite fruity presence. Finishes bright and flavorful. A terrific IPA.

 

 

This was a nice clean offering true to the style with a solid baseline pale malt and 80 IBUs worth of beta and alpha hopping that left a nice bitter after taste without the residual oil slick you find with some IPA's. Definitely try this one if you come across it. 4.0

Update 10/17/15: Bought a growler of Batch #3 and shared it with a friend before the Coyotes game. I have to say this is one of the cleanest most flavorful IPA's brewed in this state ranking with the AZWBC IPA's . Just the right amount of grapefruit bitterness and clean pale malt finish that was still very good even after a half of growler. Definitely try this if you are a hop head! 4.25

Very good IPA. Gotta have this one when you come to Wren House!

For a brewery being open just a week, I thought this was one of the best initial offerings for an IPA that AZ has seen in quite some time. Yes, even the boys over in the wilderness didn't put out a clean IPA this attenuated and this good. Bursting with hop aroma, a little unbalanced in a good way, a bright golden color and perfect carb. This exceeded my expectiations for sure.