Celebración
Raíces Brewing Company

This pours a thin white-gold with a ring of foam. The aroma hints at a spicy hop, somewhat subdued. Tremendous effervescence, with a floral finish. This beer dances on the tongue.

their menu talked more about how this is supposed to taste than what it is, unfortunately, i think this biere brut or biere de champagne style gets tossed around incorrectly a lot, not sure if this has undergone some special conditioning or is done with wine yeast or anything, but i dont really think so, i think its just a supercharged bubbly blonde ale, but its lively and flavorful and i guess has a little yeast character to it, nice drinker on a super hot summer evening, i was impressed with the beers i drank in here. this is clear and lighter than yellow and almost looks a little watered down, but it has a short and lasting white head and all kinds of carbonation. the nose here is a little fruity, green grape because i am thinking champagne, and green pear, but its not all estery and overrun like that, its delicate, lightly floral, barely there on the malt side. the flavor has some herbal wrinkles, white tea and maybe light lemongrass, very dry, a pils type grain base but really mild, and again dry and snappy to finish, refreshing but gone pretty quick. i like this, its easy and effervescent, but i was hoping for a little more, was thinking more unique fermentation or something, i dont know, but im not sure this totally hits as a champagne beer. if tis done with that yeast, its seems like dry yeast that never really got cranked up, maybe done too cool to be expressive, i wish they offered more detail. that said, its great for hot weather, easy drinking and lively, and technically very well done. i am excited to spend some more time here next time i am back in denver!

Had on tap. Clear golden body with a white head, plenty of bubbles rising! Champagne yeast with lemon in the nose, delicate. Thin malt flavors get envoleped by the champagne yeast, with subtle grains almost like rice and lemon pith supporting. Simpler but tasty. Feel is thin and dry, with high carbonation, very crisp.

This champagne IPA was really good, and the best of the four I sampled. It's very light, 4%, and very sessionable, as they indicate on the description. Brut IPAs kind of came and went, but I really enjoyed them, and this one is a great example of why. You can very easily down a few of these at happy hour, and so the name is appropriate. This should be a staple of their beer lineup going forward.