Beer of the Week! 08/16/22
A Couple of Collabs
Oozlefinch / The Answer
My Hops Don’t Jiggle Jiggle
Regularly $19.99 / Now on Sale for $17.96
New England Style IPA
What do you get when you cross a mythical military mascot, a Vietnamese restauranteur (and beer fan), and one of many near non-sensical Tik Tok phenomenons? In this case, you get a juicy Virginia New England Style IPA.
Fort Monroe, VA’s Oozlefinch Beers & Blending offers up this collaborative New England Style IPA with Richmond’s The Answer Brewpub. What is The Answer? So, you remember how Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant hit Richmond in the early 00s, right? Remember how one of the striking things about it was its impressive beer list? Well, in 2014 Mekong founder An Bui took his already notable beer game to the next level by opening his own brewpub, the Answer. Eight years later sees them brewing with our favorite Fort Monroe fermenters.
The My Hops Don’t Jiggle Jiggle is bittered with Citra and Sabro hops as well as experimental hop HBC 586. They throw in a bit of lactose to sweeten the brew, and the whole thing comes out not just with melon and mango notes but also with a hint of something floral like rose water.
By the way, to answer our earlier question, “What is the Answer?” the Answer Brewpub informs us that the answer … is beer. (Ugh! It was literally on the tips of our tongues!)
Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause It’s beer today; gone tomorrow. Enjoy the good times while you can.)
Sloop / Seven Island / Thin Man
Pink Flamingos
Regularly $14.99 / Now on Sale for $13.96
Hazy IPA
This beer is a three-way collaboration between Sloop Brewing Company in East Fishkill, NY, Thin Man Brewery in Buffalo, NY, and Seven Island Brewery from … well, from nowhere and everywhere. (Seven Island is two “crazy Greek guys” from Corfu, traveling the world and making beer all over.)
The Pink Flamingos is stacked to the gills with malts designed to make it an extra creamy haze-o-tron! We’re talking flaked oats and flaked wheat on top of malted oats and barley. Deep in the haze, the trio of brewers has settled on a duo of hops — Mosaic cryo hops (Mosaic hops processed in a low temperature to extract the acids and oils brewers want from the vegetative matter) and the experimental hop HBC 630. So you can look for (and find) intense hop flavor in this brew. From these two hops, Sloop, Seven Island, and Thin Man have fashioned a very interesting take on the hazy IPA.
Dry with strong grapefruit notes, there’s a little juiciness in the Pink Flamingos but also a little bite around the edges. Maybe it’s pine, maybe it’s mint, maybe it’s zest. Whatever it is, it allows this brew to be a bridge between juicy IPAs and citrusy IPAs.