A couple of months ago I competed in round 2 of the Iron Brewer homebrew competition; this seemed to garner my homebrew some more interest than they normally gather. People I follow on Twitter approached me for homebrew trades because they wanted to taste it; really?! That’s cool

Barry (@BitzyBrew on Twitter) got in touch to trade some of his homebrew for my tripel, and it morphed into my first trade with someone out of state. Cigar City Brewing has garnered quite a reputation, and those folks up north really want to try it – so that went up along with my tripel. In return I got some of Barry’s first all-grain batch, an IPA.

Appearance: Pours an orangey-gold into the glass, with a great creamy, off-white head

Nose: Fruity hops abound with apple, nectarine & citrus evident. A light bready malt comes through as well.

Taste: the fruity hops are still there, however there is definitely a piney resin bite on the finish. A good malt balance saves the hops from being too astringent.

Mouthfeel: good level of carbonation for the style, with excellent head retention.

A very solid IPA, and an excellent first all grain batch! Thanks for sending it down for me to try