TGIF. It’s my daughters birthday today so I grabbed a beer before heading to dinner and ice skating with my daughter and her friend. It’s also much needed since I gave up alcohol during the week during Lent this year. My friend Joe gave me this beer a couple weeks ago when we met up in Kentucky for our second Bourbon Trail trip. The bottom says it was canned on 1/15/19.
Location: Poured into a tall curved pint glass from the can at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 7.1% ABV, 95 IBUs, ~260 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s an amber, sort of deep orange in color and it’s pretty clear. It has a big, creamy white head on it with a ton of lacing. After a few minutes, the head fell to thin layer over top revealing a sort of piney-dank hop aroma.
Taste & Feel: The body is full and the mouthfeel is smooth and somewhat oily from hops. Up front, it’s mostly bitter with some piney-earthy and dank hoppiness. In the middle, the hoppiness becomes a bit sweeter and is quite juicy with mostly a piney earthiness. The bitterness rose back up again in the finish with those same hop flavors and a good amount of sharp bitterness. The bitterness lingers for a few minutes in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This beer has a lot of hoppy bitterness, so it would need something solid to stand up to it. I’d probably recommend something like a cheeseburger or meaty pizza in which the cheese could combat the piney hoppiness a bit.
Overall Impression: I thought this beer had a good mix of hops, and I enjoyed the piney-earthy hop flavor and bitterness, although I thought the bitterness was a bit too strong – as I enjoy a bit more of a balance, both in malt and in hop flavors (rather than just it being a bitter bomb). It wasn’t bad, it’s just that I prefer more flavors to come through. Overall, it was a decent IPA with a lot of bitterness, and I’m appreciative Joe brought me this beer. I’d like to try more beers from Chattanooga Brewery soon.
My Rating: 
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