Mendocino Brewing Company is one of those breweries that I didn’t know about until I received one of their beers via a “beer of the month club” package. Out of this package I got two beers, one of them the Black Hawk Stout and the other the White Hawk IPA. Today I’ll be reviewing the White Hawk as it is 60 degrees at the end of January, and an IPA seems fitting and refreshing.
Having just reviewed a Sierra Nevada beer it is only fitting that I review another one. The Estate Homegrown Ale is brewed using organic wet hops and barley grown at the Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico, California. The beer is all organic and is one of the few estate-brewed beers in the world.
Sierra Nevada is one of those larger craft breweries that continues to do things right. We have reviewed many of Sierra Nevada’s interesting offerings in the past and now there is one more to add to the mix. The Northern Hemisphere Harvest is an wet hopped American IPA. The hops in this beer come from Yakima, WA and go from the field to the brewery in 24 hours so they are extremely fresh when used, and should provide some great hop notes.
When a brewery takes a beer that is one of its mainstays and ages it in oak barrels, it adds a nice twist on an old favorite. That is what New Holland has done with the Oak Aged Mad Hatter IPA. They took their standard Mad Hatter IPA and aged it in Kentucky Barrels. The regular IPA was already solid so I can’t wait to see what it is like when aged in oak barrels.
I previously reviewed the Hop on Top from Chameleon Brewing Co., and it wasn’t to my liking. Today I have another offering from Chameleon, their Ryediculous IPA. I have had IPAs of this style in the past it so far it has turned out well. A good balance can be achieved between the earthy notes, spices, and bitterness.
