Hop Happy 7.7% ABV
American IPA
Milwaukee Brewing Co.
For the first Friday installment of MKE Wednesdays & Fridays, I’m continuing on with the apparent hop based theme this week. Unlike Wednesday, this is definitely not a Session IPA. Sitting at close to 8% ABV you are not going to want to pound a few of these in a row, and the strong hop presence is something you’ll want to take a bit more time with. While I wouldn’t say this is a palate destroying brew, they do use around 1 1/2 lbs of hops per barrel to make it.
This beer has the color of a Double IPA. It is brewed with Cascade, Columbus and Fuggle hops. While I’m sure I’ve had a beer that used Fuggle hops, this is the first time I’ve been aware of it. After some quick googling, I discovered that Fuggle hops have been around for awhile. They are named after Richard Fuggle who selected them in 1861. They are used mainly for aroma purpose, giving the Hop Happy part of it’s mild wood and fruit nose. MKE Brewing also uses Oats in this beer to balance out all the hops. The beer does have a similar taste to the Lagunitas Equinox which also uses Oats.
After a Hefeweizen that’s named Hopster, then a Session IPA that has a wit beer base, moving onto an Imperial Pilsner that adds a nice kick of hops, it’s nice to finish off the week with a straight up American IPA, even if it uses some hops discovered by an Englishman. This is a great beer to start the weekend off with, the higher alcohol content makes unwinding from work an easy task.
Tune in next week to see what theme I try to cobble together, to go along with the Monthly theme and my various daily themes. I am drinking beer and writing about it, might as well try and get creative with which beers I drink and why.
365 Brew 