Mad Man
Off The Rail Brewery

I agree--Mad Man IPA is a strange brew. I had mine on tap at Bomb's Away in Corvallis, OR. Nothing goes with Mexican food, particularly Tex-Mex like an IPA. And yet, Mad Man isn't really an American IPA. The pint almost tasted like it was drawn from cask--low carbonation, cellar temperature, and high alcohol--and yet I saw it drawn from the tap. All in all, I would say a disappointing beer for the style (frijoles negros need carbonation and hoppiness--nothing less will stand up to them), but a pleasant cask-style pale ale (if slightly too malty).

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve walked into a bar, ordered a beer, and been totally confounded by what ends up in the glass. The 23-year-old bartender swears it’s an IPA or a weizen or whatever, and then you taste it and say, HUH? If I only had a dollar….

So it was when I ordered a pint of Mad Man at Old Chicago’s in Portland. I was on the hunt for a rare beer, an Off The Rail ale said to be available at several Old Chicago’s locations. The bartender told me it was an IPA and poured it from a tap handle shaped like a black cross with red letters on it. She poured it in a chilled mug with a tall white head atop a hazed copper-gold brew. I tried to coax a smell but couldn’t. Then I waited and warmed the pint with my hands.

After working the chill off the glass I brought it to my lips and drank in something that tasted oddly like a brown ale, only weirder. The taste was stunningly original, distinctive, and just slightly quirky. The flavor was creamy and nutty, suggesting the possibility of atypical yeasts and earthy, grainy malts. The taste was somehow wooden, but full of vitality and freshness. It tasted nothing like an IPA. It tasted nothing like any of the last 800 or so beers I’ve had in the past two years.

I called the brewery. Spoke to the brewer’s business partner/wife. Here’s what she says: Off The Rail has a regular IPA called Paranoid brewed to an English traditional style. When customers requested a more contemporary Northwest IPA, Mad Man arrived as a second regular IPA offering. So the brewer insists this is an IPA. I’m not sure I agree, but I don’t see another realistic option for tagging the style. The best I can tell you is that Mad Man is a style unto itself. And it’s an intriguing and delightful one. The only real category I can place this in is “gotta have another.” Not since I drank Terminal Gravity’s ESG have I encountered such an entirely unique and compellingly drinkable ale. A solid winner.