By Iron Chef Leftovers
It is the Northwest, so it is almost suicide for a brewery to not have an IPA on their tap list. The list at Populuxe, the Ballard nano-brewery, is no different. At any given point, you will find some combination of their IPA, Double IPA or CDA on tap. Since I have already reviewed the CDA (here) and the Double IPA (here), I should complete the trifecta and finally write my review of the Populuxe IPA.
The beer is orange in color with a white head. There is lots of citrus on the nose with some grain and green hop notes. When you first take a sip, you first notice the grain, which a bit of a surprise since most northwest IPA’s tend to be very hop forward., before getting to the major burst of hoppy citrus and then finally settling into a slightly sweet, slightly bitter finale. The beer is hoppy enough to keep a hop-head like me happy if I am looking for an IPA, but not so hoppy as it is a one and done hop monster that will blow out your palate for the rest of the evening and kill your ability to taste anything. The beer is really pleasant to drink and goes down easily – a smooth and consistent brew with lots of distinct character and no alcohol burn, and could easily make for a 2-3 beer night. The beer is 6.4% abv.
On a side note – Populuxe recently released a cask version of the IPA, dry hopped with Crystal and Sterling. I didn’t take notes, but it was a something that I would have had no problem spending all day drinking. They are doing a cask on most Thursdays, so check out their Facebook Page for details.
The Populuxe IPA pays off on the trifecta with a strong 3 betting slips out of 5.
FlatbreadGarden 