By If you ask most casual beer fans to describe an IPA, you tend to hear things like “hoppy” or “bitter”. And for good reason – IPAs are typically brewed with more hops than pale ales, so the flavor tends to be quite strong. Usually, this shows up as flavors of grapefruit, lemon, grass, pine – even soil and flowers.
To balance it out, most brewers have a myriad of tricks to cut the bitterness. My favorite method is to add more malt – much like in the case of Troegs Perpetual IPA.
Brewed with lots of Crystal, Munich and Pilsner malts, this beer pours a dark gold color with good carbonation. At 7.5% ABV, the alcohol content will catch up to you, but is in range for a typical IPA.
Surprisingly, despite it being hopped with six varieties of hops including Bravo (floral), Chinook (citrus & pine), Mt Hood (herbal), Nugget (herbal), Citra (fruity) and Cascade (floral), it’s bitter, but not that bitter. You’ll actually taste a lot of grapefruit and pine, which is also present in the aroma.
The malt, however, is a strong, sweet taste that’s almost stronger than all the hops. There’s definitely a ton of different flavors going on here, and it’s a fun bit of complexity.
That being said, it’s still a pretty approachable IPA, and one I would recommend to even the casual IPA fan. It’s also fairly easy to find (on the East Coast), so it’s worth keeping it in mind.
Cheers!
Frank About Beer 