893. Straight to Ale – Monkeynaut IPA

892. Straight to Ale - Monkeynaut IPAIt’s finally Friday, and I’m glad to be home. It’s been a busy week at work, finishing up a project, and a depressing one. My job is going away, and so I’ve got until May to find a new one internally within the company. There are a lot of cut-backs and so it’s getting more and more competitive for positions. I haven’t had any luck so far and got news this week that I wasn’t even selected for an interview for two of the positions I’ve applied for. So, it’s time a beer. This is one of the beers my friend Joe brought me when we met up in Kentucky this summer and did the Bourbon Trail. It’s an IPA from Huntsville, AL.

Location: Poured into a Sam Adams Perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 7.5% ABV, ~230 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s light amber in color with an orangish hue, and it’s a bit hazy. It had a soapy textured, off-white head on it that left some nice lacing, as it fell over the course of a few minutes. It has an earthy-citrusy hop aroma to it.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium, and the mouthfeel is smooth and slightly oily from the hops. The flavor up front is mostly citrusy hops and a little bit of underlying golden malt sweetness. In the middle, a somewhat harsh earthy bitterness comes in, and continues into the finish. There are some piney-earthy hop flavors that open up a little bit in the finish, but the hop bitterness dominates and lasts for a little bit in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: Since this beer has a lot of big hop bitterness, I’d probably pair it with something solid like a burger or steak to cut it back a bit, and add cheese to the burger or mushrooms to the steak to complement the citrusy and earthy hops.

Overall Impression: As I’ve sampled a lot of beers, I’ve learned I like IPAs that have more late hop additions or whirlpool hops, because it adds more hop flavor than bitterness. This beer had mostly bitterness, which was so harsh that it cut through the hop flavors way too much. Overall, it wasn’t bad, but I felt like the pure bitterness could have been complemented by a little more complex hop flavor.

My Rating: ★★½☆☆

Your rating:

Author: kkozlen

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