Brutal IPA
Location: Duxbury, VT
Beer: Rouge Ales Brutal IPA
The weather in Vermont has finally cleared this past week and the rivers are about to normal levels. After work on Friday evening, and it is time to tie some flies for a little fishing this weekend. After watching a very informative video from Our Weekly Ties I decided to tie several Micro Mayflies. To accompany my tying I selected “Brutal IPA†from Rogue Brewing.
Tying Flies
The micro mayfly is a very easy fly to tie but extremely effective. Tips from Mike’s video make this fly even easier. Adding a dubbing bump to spread out the tail worked great. I was able to tie a half dozen of these flies before I even finished my Rogue bomber.
The beer was very good, but not exactly what I was expecting from the name. With a name like “Brutal†I was prepared for over the top, kicked you in the mouth hops, but the beer was surprisingly smooth. The flavor was more like an ESB (extra special bitter) as opposed to an IPA. I enjoyed this beer a lot and would suggest this beer to about anyone (even those who don’t really enjoy IPAs).
With 6 micro mayflies and a pleasant buzz the anticipation of fishing is building and I can’t wait wet these flies.
Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Hazy cooper in color with a big dense head. The head lasted a long while and dissipated with good lacing.
Brutal IPA
Smell: Citrus with floral hops notes. This beer had no dry hopping during fermentation so it doesn’t have the big odor of other IPAs.
Taste: Slightly hop forward flavor with a great balance of smooth caramel malt. The beer finishes slightly bitter but clean.
Overall: Very good beer. If I didn’t know better I would have said this beer was an ESB and is very mellow and smooth for an IPA.
Alcohol: 6.5%
IBU’s: 59
Gravity: 15o Plato
3 out of a Six Pack ©
