Day 344: Spring IPA

Name: Spring IPA

Brewer: Fullsteam Brewery (Durham, NC)

Classification: American IPA

Alcohol: 7%

Thoughts: The wife and I went to Fullsteam last night for some beer and board games. I ordered the new Spring IPA and then we sat down to play some Scrabble. It is my game of choice, I think I'm the greatest, despite the wife proving me wrong on multiple occasions. However, on this night ... I  REIGN SUPREME! It was just an awesome evening in an awesome hang out spot and to exclaim my happiness I did what most self respecting human would do these days, I tweeted about it. And I got a response from Sean Lily Wilson, the owner of Fullsteam. Not to sound too cool for school, but this isn't the first time we have had a twitter conversation. Anyways, the point is that he went and read some of my blog posts and read the one I had a week or so ago about Chatham County Paw Paw. He certainly agreed it wasn't Paw Paw, and even said he thought it might have been someone else's beer. But it lead me to believe that the beer I had that night was not Rocket Science IPA, but in fact this very Spring IPA. It poured a fantastic clear amber color with a wispy, ghost-like head that managed to linger around the glass quite nicely. Something I did not realize until Sean pointed it to me is that this IPA is brewed with kumquats. I have eaten a few in my life time, but not enough to tell the taste distinctly or the smell for that matter. However I assume it was in both. The other thing that was in both the aroma and taste was a really fine citrusy hop note. The malts were subtle, but the best part was how balanced everything was. The bitterness was subdued, which worked out well in my opinion. I really like this beer. They have, I believe, 3 IPAs now. Rocket Science, One Hop and this Spring IPA. All are totally different, and all are totally awesome! 

Rating: 87/100