Civil Life IPA

Though we are a self-described malt-forward brewery that judiciously uses hops for balance, we have made a few versions of what may still be America’s favorite style of craft beer, IPA.

America’s craft breweries were built on distinctive, hoppy pale ales. Breweries like Anchor, Sierra Nevada, and Bert Grant’s introduced these hoppy ales to intrepid American beer drinkers looking for more flavor and traditional ingredients and techniques.

Only Bert Grant called his beer IPA, but arguably Anchor Liberty Ale (dating from 1975) is the grandfather of the American IPA. These beers generally used dry hopping to increase flavor and aromatics. For the time, they were quite bitter (averaging around 50-60 or so IBUs). They often used a single hop like Cascade.

These days, American IPAs go well beyond this. Our take on the American craft classic celebrates the origin of the style, but highlights several hop varieties, without punishing your palate with over-the-top bitterness.

We start with American Pale Ale malt and a little Maris Otter and add some specialty malts for flavor and body. We add three American varieties of hops to the kettle for bittering. The beer is then dry-hopped with Chinook and Falconer’s Flight, a proprietary blend including Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus, and Crystal, plus several mysterious experimental types.

Chinook hops give the beer notes of pine and spice, while the Falconer’s Flight hops impart floral, citrus, and tropical characteristics. The aromatics are intensely pleasant, and the varied flavors are nuanced but persistent. There is enough malt to keep the beer balanced and just modest bitterness.

Just because we don’t focus on IPAs doesn’t mean we don’t make a great one. If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for? So far, it’s doing well here at the pub, so hurry in for a pint.