Review: ROUGHTAIL BREWING COMPANY 3RD ANNIVERSARY ALE

Roughtail has really been making a name for themselves in the last few years with a series of outstanding IPAs. I was a little late to the game scrounging this up and was lucky to get a couple of cans. Roughtail has distinguished itself with the Adaption Series of small run and super fresh limited IPAs. This one was brewed with blood orange and grapefruit puree, along with a hop bill of Galaxy (a favorite of mine), Citra and El Dorado. If you are so inclined, Roughtail thoughtfully provided a homebrew clone recipe HERE. This will definitely be the next brew that I cook up. I eagerly anticipate their new IPA offerings, and this was no different. Let’s get into the review and congratulate the good people at Roughtail on three years!

Company: Roughtail Brewing Co.

Location: Midwest City, OK

ABV: 7.8%

IBUs: 90

Style/Description: India Pale Ale

Price: $5 per 16 oz can

Appearance: Pours a cloudy orange juice that everyone loves, opaque and enticing. There’s a thick fluffy head that quickly dissipates leaving sticky lace.

Nose: Plenty of aroma here, citrus and tropicals, grapefruit peel and orange. Pineapple, mango and a hint of citrus. Just a hint of freshly mown lawn. My mouth is watering.

Taste: As expected and hoped for, this is an orange juice fruit bomb. Reminds me of a smoothie I would get at brunch, or perhaps the best Mimosa I ever had. Mango and pineapple, orange and slight bitter grapefruit, with some mild sweet grassy notes. The hoppy resins come through as the beer opens up and warms, and the citrus peel bitterness comes in to help balance out the fruit sweetness.

Finish: Crisp and dry finish, with some of the resinous hops remaining. My breath smells like Orange Trident now, right?

Overall: This beer is amazing you guys. Roughtail knocks it out of the park yet again with a truly spectacular IPA. The opaque orange juice IPAs from the East Coast are all the rage, and with good reason. Smooth, delicious and crushable, if this beer wasn’t so damn hard to get I’d get hammered on it watching basketball today. This is better than Heady, and as good as Sip of Sunshine. I honestly can’t find any flaws in it, other than its limited nature, so I have no choice but to give it a 5/5. Bravo Roughtail!

Rating: 5/5

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