St. Louis, Missouri’s largest locally-owned, independent craft brewery, Schlafly Beer, has a little something called the Hop Allocation Series, which is a playground for highlighting various beer styles geared toward hop lovers all year long. The collection recently welcome its newest entry: Northeast India Pale Ale.
Belonging to a relatively new beer classification alternately known as Vermont or New England IPAs, Northeast India Pale Ale is true to that very popular category, and is highlighted by a fresh, bold citrus, and tropical fruit flavor with a cloudy, unfiltered appearance. Notes of orange juice, pineapple, and mango come through on each sip in a way that is strong, but not overpowering. Northeast IPA measures in at a robust 8 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) and has just the right amount of hop bite at 35 International Bitterness Units (IBUs). The medium body and mouthfeel make the beer easy to drink, prodded along with a moderate amount of carbonation. These factors combine to make the Northeast IPA a good reference point for beer lovers new to the trendy New England IPA style.
Founding brewer Stephen Hale says, “The Hop Allocation Series gives us a chance to show how different brewing techniques and combinations of hops can offer a distinct IPA experience with each new release.” Specific to Northeast IPA, the brewers extensively dry-hopped the fermented beer. The dry-hopping process gives the beverage a floral and fruity aroma that suits the style well, setting the stage for the flavor punch waiting in the glass.
Schlafly’s Northeast IPA is available now on draft and in bottled six-packs at the brewery’s midtown St. Louis Tap Room and the Bottleworks restaurant located in Maplewood, Missouri. Six-packs have also been shipped across Schlafly’s 12-state distribution region, which ranges from Kansas to New York. The Northeast IPA six pack retails for about $10.
The Hop Allocation Series is set to continue throughout 2018, seeing reissues of previous beers including Tasmanian IPA, Rye IPA, and Schlafly’s Double IPA. A second new beer in the Hop Allocation line will be India Pale Lager, due this summer. In addition to Hop Allocation, Schlafly has several other changes coming throughout the year, including offering White Lager in 12-packs of 16-ounce cans, a new bottle design for the Cellar Selections line, and an expansion of the IBEX Cellar series that includes new beers Sour Blonde, Barrel-Aged Saison, and Barrel-aged Barleywine.
