What’s new in brew
Local taprooms brew up special flavors for National IPA Day.
Kyle Jones can hardly imagine a better craft beer to represent South Florida than India Pale Ales, the hoppy, fruity and citrusloaded brews that are highly popular in the taproom at LauderAle, his Fort Lauderdale brewery.
So popular are his IPAs, in fact, that the humble, hoppy elixirs racked up nearly 50 percent of July’s sales at the brewery, Jones says. Which bodes well for National IPA Day, a global toasting of the aromatic beer taking place Thursday at LauderAle and other South Florida breweries.
Yes, National IPA Day is a fake holiday, but LauderAle (3305 SE 14th Ave.) will use the occasion to pour nine of its IPAs from 3 to 11 p.m., including Vacation Money, a New England-style milkshake IPA punched with notes of tangerine, lactose and Madagascar vanilla beans. A flight of four IPAs in the taproom will cost $11.
While IPAs are a showcase of the noble hop, the fuzzy green plant that gives pale ales its bitter flavor, Jones says the beer style has evolved for South Florida taste buds.
“IPAs here are very different than they were five years ago,” Jones says. “People don’t like the super-bitter, piney, overhopped IPAs as much anymore. Milkshake IPAs and hazy IPAs are creamier, crisper and lower in bitterness while still smelling pretty dank.”
IPAs are the most popular style in America’s $23 billion craft-beer industry, according to a January report by IRI Worldwide, a Chicago-based research firm that tracks alcohol trends. The hoppy brew accounts for a quarter of all craft-beer sales, IRI estimates.
Here are other National IPA Day celebrations in South Florida.
Due South Brewing (2900 High Ridge Road, Suite 3, Boynton Beach) will offer at least five new IPA treatments from noon to 10 p.m., including Mango Daily Downpour IPA, New Experimental IPA and three treatments of its hurricane-themed Category 3 and Category 5 IPAs.
Meanwhile, from 3 to 9 p.m. at NOBO Brewing Company (2901 Commerce Park Drive, Boynton Beach), the taproom will pour five punnysounding brews, including What’s My Haze Again and I Find Your Lack of Haze Disturbing.
Saltwater Brewery (1701 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach) will serve different treatments of its Screamin’ Reels IPA, a piney, grapefruit-punch beer; along with Guava Brut IPA, Hop Soup and multiple guest IPAs.
And in Miami, Wynwood Brewing Company (565 NW 24th St., Miami) will have $1 off all eight of its IPAs, including Apple of My IPA, Brickell Belgian IPA, Mango IPA and Black Tie Hoptional.