Ah, Huma Lupa Licious. Next to Two Hearted, I think this was my Michigan-based go-to IPA for a good stretch some twenty years ago. I even visited their brewpub once and brought a growler of fresh Huma home to enjoy! It's been a good couple of years since I had any and I started craving it so I grabbed a sixer recently. The new branding threw me off--for those who haven't had one in a while, like me, it might be helpful to know that Short's rolled out a redesigned package for its 21st anniversary/birthday. They're calling it a Midwest IPA which to me means I should expect a bit of malt and some chew, with piney-orange citrus C-hop notes. It doesn't disappoint. My memory of Huma is that it was intensely bitter. I get the bitterness and the hop forward profile as they both stand out compared to the current sea of 'soft and pillowy' floral and fruity IPAs. Conversely, however, the bitterness in my memory was much more extreme. I think this speaks to where I was as a beer drinker when I first started ordering Huma. Used to be I'd grab some Bells and Shorts on visits to Michigan to take back with me where ever I was living. I even sent some bottles of Huma once! Now that I'm living here that urgency is gone. Besides, at one time you could only find Short's in Michigan and it was a big deal when they expanded their distro! I'm not sure where they're at now, if they've dialed back their footprint. I haven't seen them at the big box warehouse retailor, my grocery store only had sixers of Huma (but 12 packs of their Locals Light and Soft Parade), and instead of several rotating seasonals there were boxes of the Winter Pils on the shelf.
