New Beer Alert: Hop-Forward Beers Done Right

(Courtesy Broken Hops Brewing)

Spring is just around the corner and American brewers are addressing things with a new roster of India Pale Ales that you’re gonna want to have around as the seasons change.

Redefining IPAs In The Craft Beer Capitol (Denver, CO) -– Founded as a side-project by Christopher O’Connor after years of experience brewing at Prost Brewing Company (where he is still is Prost’s Vice President of Operations), Broken Hops Brewing is reinventing the beer experience using classic German lager brewing processes including endosperm mashing, decoction, open fermentation, extended lagering and natural carbonation.

And two of its uber-interesting creations are hitting retail this month…

Smooth and easy drinking, but jacked with hop flavor and bitterness, Broken Hop West Coast IPA is a 7% ABV India Pale Ale with the mouthfeel of a lager, but the hop character of a West Coast IPA. And Broken Hops Hazy IPA is 7.3% ABV juice bomb with a light bitterness and big peach, strawberry, citrus and stone fruit notes that linger.

“Broken Hops is a brewery focused on old world practices and their impact on modern styles. said O’Connor. “I created Broken Hops to showcase my love for German brewing principles, looking to the past for inspiration on what the future of IPAs could be. Our focus is singular—hop-forward beers.

(Courtesy Tröegs Independent Brewing)

One For The Road (Hershey, PA) – Tröegs Independent Brewing has a new addition to its year-round roster that was inspired by “Graffiti Highway,” an abandoned stretch of road that became a Pennsylvania landmark. Just a short trip from the brewery, this abandoned stretch of road was once a Pennsylvania counter-culture hot spot, a gathering place for like-minded artists to contribute to a colorful mosaic in an otherwise fading landscape.

A homage to that landmark that was buried forever in 2020, Tröegs Graffiti Highway Double IPA is a 9.5 ABV India Pale Ale with mosaic of intense fruit-forward flavors that give way to a smooth bitterness. And like many of Tröegs’ beers, Graffiti Highway started as a series of test batches through the brewery’s Research & Development brewhouse known as the Scratch Lab.

“The Scratch Lab is a 3-barrel system that allows us to test hop combinations, times and temperatures side-by-side,” says Tröegs Brewing Manger Tim Mayhew. “We’re able to taste the nuances of these trials and find new inspirations.”

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