From the Beer Writer: Last month, Bear Roots Brewing was kind enough to hold a Beer to the Rescue fundraiser at its Vista brewery and home-brew store. They even put on a special beer for the occasion called IPA to the Rescue. Naturally, that was the first beer I ordered. In addition to supporting a cause, I also (like so many craft beer fans) gravitate toward ales and lagers I’ve never had before. But upon tasting IPA to the Rescue, I found its flavors extremely familiar. I inquired about the beer and found out it was a re-brew of an early edition from Bear Roots’ Hop Tyrant series of hoppy ales. It had gone over so well with customers that they thought it would be fun to make it a part of the charity night. With pleasing accents of orange, peach and pineapple, plus light tartness akin to kiwi and a bitterness reminiscent of lemon pith, I concur with their logic. This version of Hop Tyrant came in at 7.8% alcohol-by-volume, providing a slight sweetness that gave the beer nice added body to go with all of those hop-borne flavors. While irregular from a release standpoint, Bear Roots’ Hop Tyrant beers are reliable from a quality standpoint, and worth seeking out when they hit this North County cult-favorite’s taps.
From the Brewer: “IPA to the Rescue is a variation of our Hop Tyrant series of beers. One of our favorites to brew, it allows us to be creative and experiment with exotic hop varieties. IPA to the Rescue was made with Waimea, Wai-Ti, Mandarina Bavaria and Rakau hops. All of them have minimal bitterness and heavy tropical notes. The lack of bittering hops allowed the beer to focus on those tropical aromatic notes and develop into a delightful IPA. We love brewing the different Hop Tyrants, because of the many ways it allows us to play with hop combinations. One Tyrant that has stuck out utilized a combination of Mosaic and Falconer’s Flight. So often paired with Citra, we wanted to give the pleasant and almost berry-like qualities of Mosaic a bit more of an edge with the more piney and citrus notes we get from the Falconer’s. The result was quite agreeable and it was nice to be off the beaten path so often perused by the classic pairing of Mosaic and Citra. It was a fresh take on a classic pairing if you will. We are looking forward to trying more hops in the future. Some of those Southern Hemisphere, Australian and New Zealand hops have very unique characteristics. Hops like kangaroos, odd and beautiful. We are excited to layer our flavors with them and every different Hop Tyrant we make.”—Ben Gardner, Head Brewer, Bear Roots Brewing