Spring Has Sprung

To be completely honest, I do love an American IPA. No, I’m not a hophead; far from it. While I tend to lean toward malt-centric brews, with a good classic porter being one of my favorite beers, I do adore the American hop plant and all the bitter goodness that comes from it. And as the weather veers toward the warmer months, my thoughts return to hops. I think spring is a wonderful time to revisit the classic American Pale Ales (APA) as well as the delicious American IPAs.
You may know that India Pale Ales (IPAs) are the style of beer that the English sent to their colonies in India in the late 18^th century. Hopped up, high alcohol beers were just the trick to take the voyage, and English IPA brews became entirely successful. The colonists and armies of the British Empire fell in love with these hoppier brews.
From these original exports came English bitter, Extra Special Bitter, and all varieties of pale ale, culminating with a modified version of the colony brew, English IPA. It is from this style we get American Pale Ales and IPAs.
It may well be the American pale ale and especially, in the last decade, the American IPA that has driven the craft beer movement in this country. Of course, that also means that these beers have been prominent for quite some time.
But more recently have we seen the extension of the classic American IPA to new realms. Whether it is ungodly levels of hops or even single hop versions, maybe red, brown, or black IPAs, and more recently the wheat IPA, the American India Pale Ale seems to be the base beer for our craft beer.
It was Dogfish Head Craft Brewery that took a great IPA and made it even better through the use of a different flavor that blended superbly with the bitter goodness. Enter DFH’s Aprihop, a “fruit beer for hopheads.”
One of DFH’s five seasonal beers, Aprihop is the spring release. From the website: “Aprihop is an American IPA brewed with Pilsner and Crystal malts. It’s massively hopped — in the continuous fashion, of course! — and the flavor is complemented by the addition of apricots.” The beer is dry-hopped with Amarillo hops, so expect some of that spicy bitterness to be present, but the apricots, not an overly sweet or citrusy fruit, lend a subtle, very gentle fruit hint to the mix; this is no syrup sweet beer.
New for 2014’s Aprihop is a fantastic label, a welcome improvement from the old staid cover. A bug-eyed bunny, seemingly frothing for these juicy apricots, tears it’s buckteeth into the flesh colored fruit. Eyes bulging red, it seems our hoppy friend is frenzied by the luscious ale.
More IPA than fruit beer, the citrus hop notes dominate the malts, with a touch of apricot joining the dry, crisp finish. A medium to full bodied beer, this is no summer session brew, but a solid and fruit kissed, well-made American IPA.
Think of a beer similar to 90 Minute IPA, just slightly less strong (7% alcohol by volume versus 9%) with just a touch of fruit. A perfect beer to pair with Mexican food, ceviche, or maybe even BBQ, grab a 4-pack of Aprihop and let in the spring. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. While they don’t have every beer the Beer Snob writes about, they probably have most. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.