Archive for IPA Monday
Hoptimus Prime
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Sometimes, a good name and quirky artwork are all it takes to get me to buy a beer. And since Legacy Brewing Co.’s “Hoptimus Prime” has both, the bottle jumped from the beer aisle, landed in my hand, and pulled me to the cashier. This Double India Pale Ale is 9% ABV, about 100 IBU, and a decent way to start American Craft Beer Week while also celebrating the mini-holiday of IPA Monday.
I don’t think there’s any sort of Transformers tie-in, but the character gracing the Hoptimus Prime label is certainly worthy of his own cartoon show or Michael Bay film. The leafy hop-man has bulging hop-pectorals, a bitter hop-codpiece, and a foamy mug of (one can only assume) Double India Pale Ale. He seems to be gazing into the mug and pondering the question written beneath the Legacy logo: “Ours Is In The Bottle . . . What’s Yours?” Hoptimus Prime’s legacy could be the conclusion of the hop shortage — if he donated a leg, the problem would be solved.
Two Brothers Hop Juice DIPA
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After a week of travel and last night’s hoppy Bigfoot, I felt I needed something extra strong for this IPA Monday session — so went to my basement and came up carrying a bottle of Hop Juice.
Hop Juice is a self-styled Double India Pale Ale bottled by Two Brothers Brewing Co. in Warrenville, IL. It initially drew my attention with the label image of a hop getting its “juice” squeezed out by a pair of pliers; but the brewery location — Warrenville, IL — was why I actually bought the bottle. During my years living in Chicago, I worked near the tiny suburb of Warrenville and I had no idea there was a brewery in that town. Heck, I didn’t even think they had a stoplight!
Upland Dragonfly IPA
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The tradition of IPA Monday was designed for days like this. I flew to Indianapolis for a conference, and let me tell you — there’s nothing like getting stuck during a layover and chasing gate changes to make you crave the hoppy blast of a good India Pale Ale.
Specifically, the IPA I had a hankering for was Dragonfly IPA, from the Upland Brewing Company of Bloomington, IN. After landing and doing some work at the hotel, I made the 45 minute drive from Indianapolis to meet up with BeerADay.net reader and longtime friend Bruce Paine, where we sat at the bar and relived old times.
The Upland was my watering hole for many years while I attended Indiana University; I moved off campus and into a house mere blocks from the Upland shortly after they opened. I really didn’t drink much beer prior to discovering the Upland, but — as my credit card statements can attest — its proximity combined with fine craft beer gave me a new perspective. Over the years, my crew and I hung out at the Upland so frequently that we became close to many of the bartenders and waitstaff; hanging out after closing, drinking at their houses, developing romantic entanglements, and generally carrying on as if we were reviving television’s “Cheers”. (At least, that’s how we saw it.) So when the Upland started a Mug Club, many of us naturally became lifetime members.
MoJo India Pale Ale
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A “trippy” IPA seemed required on an IPA Monday like today, and the colorful label on Boulder Beer Company’s Mojo IPA fit the bill.
Boulder Beer Company boasts the 43rd brewing license in the country (receiving it in 1979) and was the first microbrewery licensed in Colorado. They originally focused on English-style ales, but branched into bigger, bolder styles starting with a beer called “Hazed & Infused”. Hazed is intense, aromatic, and hoppy — or so the Boulder Beer website claims, as I haven’t had the pleasure of trying it. They designed bold, colorful packaging for Hazed to make it stand out from their other beers, and the Boulder Beer “Looking Glass Series” was born.
Mojo IPA is the fourth beer released in the Looking Glass Series. The label contains the following definition:
Mo-Jo: 1: A magic spell or charm; magical power; 2. Herbaceous ale that summons hop attacks.
Lakefront IPA
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Milwaukee, WI is almost synonymous with beer, so I’ve been looking forward to trying the products of the Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery.
Could there be a better way to start than with Lakefront’s IPA?
Lakefront IPA has a kind of cyclops logo, with a thick letter “I” upon which an eyeball is superimposed, quite similar in style to the pyramid on the reverse of the US dollar. There’s little else on the label to suggest more about the beer.
Ah, but so often it is what’s inside that counts.
