Founded in 2011, and celebrated on the first Thursday in August, this year, August 3 is IPA Day.
It’s an opportunity for breweries, bars and restaurants, and beer lovers to pay homage to what has become the most popular style of American craft beer. And, indeed, it’s the style that continues to distinguish American brewing and American hops.
In April 2016, Torched Hop Brewing Co. took over the Old Spaghetti Factory space on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown with an expansive new brewery-restaurant that immediately made a splash with 20 rotating beers on tap.
Among the favorites from the portfolio of brewmaster Chris Bivins, Hops-De-Leon is an appropriately named American-style IPA that epitomizes the spirit of IPA Day.
And with that, Hops-De-Leon is this week’s Beer Pick.
Beer Pick
Hops-De-Leon
Torched Hop Brewing Co., Atlanta
Available on draft at Torched Hop
Profile
Torched Hop brewmaster Chris Bivins says the goal in designing Hops-De-Leon was to “create a beer with a huge citrus character.” To that end, Bivins employs a variety of citrus-forward hop varieties, including Citra, Amarillo and Simcoe, which are added after fermentation.
The grist bill mixes American two-row, white wheat and a light crystal malt. An American ale yeast strain leaves the beer very dry, and accentuates the hops, adding intensely fruity aromas and flavors, with notes of pineapple, mango, and grapefruit.
Pair with
At Torched Hop, Hops-De-Leon often gets paired with the brewpubs’s Classic Double cheeseburger. But it would also make a good match for many other menu items, including the Buffalo fried chicken sandwich or the charcuterie pizza with bresaola, fennel salami, prosciutto, and bacon.
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