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Indego Pale Ale--H.C. Berger BrewersMay 02 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line What is it? I’d keel haul the scalawag that calls this a classic IPA.
The fabled India pale ale is a version of the classic English pale ale that was formulated for export to India. As travel was usually through hot climes and violent seas, it certainly spoiled about every porter, stout, and brown ale before this one was developed. Basically, the ale was changed by adding extra grains, sugar, and hops to increase the alcohol and the bacteriostatic activities of isohumulone (from hops). Adding additional sugar during casking increased the carbonation and helped maintain the viability of the yeast. Thus, you have an intensely alcoholic and hoppy pale ale. The modern IPAs from Britain (2nd generation IPA) have changed dramatically by lowering the starting gravity (amount of fermentable sugar) from the 1.060 range to 1.040 specific gravity. This indicates that the beer now called IPA is actually just an extra special pale ale, maybe with additional hop character. After the American microbrewery and homebrew revival in the last few decades, IPA has been restored to its original high gravity glory. Appearance: The bottle certainly sets the mood by using an etching of an old tall ship with a very nice navy border. It appeals to the imagination: think of all the oak casks in the hold of that ship… Were I a stowaway, you wouldn’t find me in one of the apple barrels. When poured, you are greeted with an pleasing creamy dense head and a sparkling clear amber-bronze liquid. Aroma: Hops, beginning to end. Some amber malt scent. This brew smells like the local brewery on the day when they dry hop their beer. Taste: This is somewhat out of character for the H.C. Berger Brewery, as most everything they make is intensely malty. Indego has the beginnings of a good IPA, but instead, the flavors fall flat. The aroma was leading me on, beckoning with the siren song of an enchanting and enveloping malt/citrus/hop 3-part harmony. I told all my men to stuff their ears with beeswax, all save me. That was a waste of time. I was disappointed that the hops never developed a full bouquet as can be found in other US IPAs. A pleasant spicy, citrusy bitter finish is detectable from the cascade hops, but it isn’t tongue-numbing. As the ale warms and I close in on the banks of India (and the bottom of the glass), something goes wrong and I get this slight musty-funk wang from the malt. What is this beer? “Well-balanced, with a creamy malt flavor, this is an alt (old ale) to remember!” –H.C. Berger website. Now I am thoroughly confused. Berger, located in Colorado, is known for brewing German style ales. Altbier is a classic German beer—so classic that it has been brewed in the town of Dusseldorf before the name Germany was even around. It is characteristically dark amber to brown and it has some hop taste and bitterness. Hmmm, this did not taste like an India pale ale, but there was a big ship on the bottle. I’m torn as to what I’d call this beer. For a good time, call all your beer wonk friends over and do a blind taste on this. You should be pretty surprised by the responses. The IPA purists would of course scoff at it while others would say that it tastes good—a third generation IPA? No doubt the brothers Berger knew what they were doing when they brewed this. I doubt they had purist intentions, so they probably dumbed it down to make it a little more palatable to the person who accidentally picks it up. All in all, it is an ale, and not a bad one at that. 3.75 stars.  |
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