Beer of the Week! 07/24/23

Three Notch’d / New Belgium Hop Slide

Normally $13.99 / Now on Sale for $12.96
Single-hop New England Style IPA with Apricot

For this brew, our very own Three Notch’d Brewing Company reaches across the continent to Fort Collins, Colorado to collaborate with stalwart craft brewers New Belgium Brewing Company (formerly independent but owned by Japan’s Kirin Holdings since 2019) … or maybe Three Notch’d just reached out to the New Belgium brewing facility in Asheville, NC. Wait … is the former Constellation Brewing plant that Kirin/New Belgium just acquired in Daleville up and running yet? Are they making beer there or just doing fermented malt beverages and seltzers? Who can keep up with these conglomerate connivings? Anyway …

Three Notch’d has been brewing since 2013 without being acquired, making this year its 10th anniversary year. In celebration, it has brewed this collaboration with New Belgium.

The Hop Slide is a single-hop New England Style IPA using the New Zealand Nectaron hop. Under development for 17 years by New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research, the Nectaron was commercially released in 2020. It bursts with fruit notes and, thus, is supposed to be perfect for fruit forward beers. It certainly seems to work here when Three Notch’d and New Belgium pairs it with apricots in the Hop Slide.

The Hop Slide is possibly the most evenly blended fruit IPA we’ve ever tasted (and we’ve had Ten Bends’ Cream Puff War). Low on the haze, it is round, full and luscious with the apricot lingering on the finish.

Seems like good things come to those who last 10 years.

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause it’s one glass for those of us still here and one glass for those of us gone.)

Virginia Beer Gorgeous

Normally $13.99 / Now on Sale for $12.96
Single-hop New England Style IPA

Didn’t we just do a Citra deep dive with Resident Culture’s Citra version of their Forever Alone series? We did! See? We said that Citra was probably the most popular IPA hop, and here’s another Citra-rific brew, this time from Williamsburg’s Virginia Beer Company.

Virginia Beer starts with 2-Row Barley malt, Wheat Malt, and Flaked Oats to help with the haze. They also use rice hulls, which help manage the wheat and oats without adding to the beer’s flavor. They then ferment these grains with Manchester yeast (reportedly a good yeast for producing juicy IPAs). Finally, the wort is both hopped and dry-hopped with Citra. Now, if you expect this beer to be a tangy, lemony, citrus slap in the face, then you’re like we were. And like us, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Who would’ve thought a single hop Citra IPA could be so soft! You just sink into a welcoming citrus cloud that barley even lingers on the finish. What is it with Williamsburg breweries and truth in advertising? Alewerks’ Superb IPA is superb, and the Gorgeous is just what it’s called.

Remember!

You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!