Crispy Crush
Middle Ground Brewing Company

19.2oz crowler from the brewery packaged 02/27, into an Ethereal Brewing tulip.

Pours a clear gold with a great ring of foam and some short lived bubbles. Aroma is lemon, dry pineapple, and snappy dankness. Flavor is strawberry, lemon, lemongrass, some white grape funk, and a very faint hit of cream and pils malt on the back end. It's strikingly clean for how three dimensional the fruit flavors are, especially that strawberry, but it doesn't lean too sweet. There's some pineapple character as well but with negative sweetness behind any of the juices. I like the upfront lemon dankness and the crisp bitterness behind it, and while this is dry, it's not a huge IBU bomb and drinks like a 4.5% lager despite having these huge hop flavors. I guess it's in the name, but this IPA is very smooth drinking with a lower body. This is easily one of the most refreshing IPAs I've ever had in the new school camp, and probably my favorite cold IPA.

I spoke with the owner/brewer and the bartender managed to upsell me into a crowler of this stuff since they don't have a canning line, but I asked why a cold IPA as their flagship beer. He replied that it's the most impressive vessel for a refreshing, easily sold beer. The average drinker doesn't know what makes a cold IPA truly a cold IPA, but the fact that it's so clean and crisp but has those intense hop flavors people are looking for drew him to the style. His answer boiled down to this style being the most efficient hop delivery mechanism and it being a unique way to meet market needs while making a statement. I of course agreed after a taste (I committed to almost 20oz of the stuff) and it seems like the strawberry hop thing may be Middle Ground's signature. Their 2nd anniversary DIPA had that some note as the focus, and this one features it heavily as well.

I'm not complaining. With Murfreesboro's brewery options getting smaller every month, and the mainstays as subpar as they are (Cedar Glade's one million infected beers, Tailgate expanding with their huge taplist of mediocrity), having such a statement as this flagship gives me hope for the future. This beer is not only extremely well done in terms of style guidelines, it feels unique and incredibly easy to enjoy on top of that. This review turned into a commentary on Murfreesboro as a whole, but really, Middle Ground has impressed me.