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First off, let me begin by saying Happy IPA Day, everyone! To celebrate, we will have our Hopstruck Red IPA and Donkey-Hote Double IPA on tap, plus a brand new beer called Hippo-HOP-amus – a delicious black session ale that drinks like an IPA. Every once in a while we make a beer that fits my palette so well that I want to drink all of it and not share it with anyone else. (Of course I would never do that ). But, this happens to be the case with Hippo-HOP-amus. Oh why do I love it so? Let me count the ways: 1- Roasty beers are ‘my thing’, and this beer is perfectly roasty thanks in large part to the beautiful chocolate rye that we get from Valley Malt. Take a sip, and you get the roastiness and the rye lingering on the palette. I can’t wait to pair this beer with food – especially a juicy burger with a big fat seasonal tomato slice on top. 2- It seems like the older I get, the more I appreciate a lower alcohol beer. The trick is finding a lower alcohol beer that doesn’t lack in body and flavor. Hippo-HOP-amus is 4%!!! alcohol by volume, but it is amazingly full bodied. You would never guess that this big little beer was a session ale if I didn’t tell you. 3- While I like hops, I don’t like them overwhelming my palette and nose. This beer has just the right amount of hops – they meld so nicely with the roastiness and also linger on the palette. We dry hopped with Centennial, and the spicy citrusy notes from this hop come through on the nose. Although this beer has only 27 IBUs, given the lower alcohol, it drinks like a much hoppier beer than that number might indicate. So what’s the story behind this beer? Well our assistant brewer Chris homebrewed up a batch this summer, and we really liked it. Annette and Chris then collaborated to scale up the recipe, lowering the hops, upping the Rye, and adding more malt. We really love how this beer came out, and we hope you do, too!