An example of an American IPA . Color can range from pale golden to red and often are cloudy. The American IPA is typically big on hops and often a little herbal or citrus flavor. If you get a good one, bitterness will be present. They tend to be medium in body with a mild malt character.
This IPA comes to us from the Steamwork’s Brewing Company in Durango, Colorado. They began in 1996 by opening their first brewpub with what they say was a simple mission “brew world class beer; be a value-conscious culinary leader; celebrate the heroes of our community; generate revenue for our shareholders – all while having fun.” Being located in the middle of the fabulous Rocky Mountains, allowed these folks to take advantage of the industrial mountain history of Durango. Taking an old automotive center built in 1921, they turned it into a state-of-the-art brewery, even using the plethora of concrete, steel and exposed wooden timbers to retain the original industrial feel of the place.
Typical for and IPA, this one is a deep copper color that really looks like and old copper brewing kettle. The carbonation is great with bubbles just bursting to the top producing a thick lacing that sticks week to the glass.
The smell of hops hits you immediately, almost disguising the malt and slight hint of spice.
To smell this one is divine. The strong hop smell is also a strong hop tatse. Although I can’t place the exact one, spice is definitely present here. Just enough of a bite to enjoy, but not too bitter.
Mouthfeel on this one is good, nice and crisp. The longer it lingers the more the bitter hops come out.
I’ve had Steamwork’s Steam Engine Lager and was somewhat dissapointed, however with this one overall, I was both impressed and surprised. The ABV of 9.2% is higher than average for most IPA’s, although of is not that noticeable making it potrtially dangerous. Went well with the Italian Mozzarella brick oven pizza we had for dinner.
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