The ADD

Well, yesterday kicked off American Craft Beer Week 2013, and I realized that two paths laid before me: A. Run to the ol’ BevieMart and grab the first sixer of craft brew I’d never heard of and/or tried that caught my eye and get to sippin’ or B. Come up with a plan to somehow make it a bit more of a unique, educational…maybe even meaningful. Naturally, I decided to take a path that cut right through the center.

As locally brewed beer is important to me (And should be to you to. Why? Check out this article by Grist on sustainable beer), and since our lovely Fort only has but one Brewery, my objective is to try and review one new-to-me beer from Indiana each night this week.

Monday night’s brew traveled to my glass from People’s Brewing Co. based in Lafayette, IN. And while People’s offers an array of seasonal and year round brews, my amateur assessment is that that People’s like ‘em hoppy, as almost half of the standard brews listed on their website are pales, IPAs and bitters - and the hops are just fine by me!

Fittingly enough, the brew that I landed on is their Mound Builder IPA, which is described on People’s site as follows:

American Style India Pale Ale.  We used an American base malt with an addition of Caramalt to give this, now classic style, a redish hue.  An aggressive use of Columbus, a high alpha hop with a full flavor profile, Centennial and dry hopped with Amarillo , citrus hops with notes of orange and grapefruit.  People’s IPA is a hoppy, yet smooth American twist on the English IPA.

Here’s my review:
First off, the art depicts a delightfully politically incorrect and overall pretty entertaining illustration of a Native American fellow who appears to have had a fair amount of this ale already, and is possibly offering the rest of his to you. Thanks guy! Don’t mind if I do.

Mound Builder pours a slightly hazy amber color, and has a sweet and malty, floral aroma. At first sip, it’s light bodied with a slightly sweet and malty flavor that transitions to pretty darn bitter pretty darn quickly. If I had to guess, I’d say that this particular bottle had been sitting for a while because most of the hop aroma and flavor has fallen off (normal after time, of course), which is a huge bummer since I can’t taste much of the Amarillo mentioned in the description. Amarillo is a truly delicious hop.

Unfortunately, my overall impression of Mound Builder is that it’s a bit lacking…at least in my (probably old) bottle. I can honestly say that I can tell the beer used to have more going on, and that it’s probably delicious on tap. Guess now I have an excuse to make the trip to Lafayette. Stay tuned.

As I’ve mentioned multiple times, I’m no expert. Furthermore, no beer review is absolute. Check out other (probably more concise) reviews of People’s Mound Builder IPA on BeerAdvocate.com.

Next up: Upland Brewing Co.’s Rad Red Amber Ale