While I was browsing the shelves in the beer cooler at John’s one Friday last month, Joe Hotek walked in and I asked him for a recommendation.
“You mean for August?” he asked.
I have often sought Hotek’s advice for my Little Village recommendations, but this time I was shopping for myself. “Nah, just for me,” I answered.
In half of a heartbeat he pointed to Ethos IPA, brewed by the Tallgrass Brewing Company of Manhattan, Kansas. “I love Tallgrass,” Hotek said—which was quite fitting and prophetic since after giving me his recommendation he later became Tallgrass’ representative for Iowa and Northern Illinois.
Hotek is a class act and first-rate beer guy, and I wish him the best with his new job. He is knowledgeable, friendly and always accommodating for interviews. He also never gave me a bad recommendation, and that includes Ethos IPA. In fact, after taking his advice that Friday, I decided to make Ethos IPA the beer of the month for August.
Serve Ethos IPA in a pint glass. For 16-ounce “pounders,” I prefer to use a nonic or imperial pint glass. The beer is golden, pale-amber in color and a couple fingers of dense, eggshell-colored foam will settle slowly and unevenly, leaving lacing stuck to the side of the glass.
Though not overpowering, the aroma offers all the usual aspects of the style: grapefruit, orange, tangerine and lemon. Cattiness dominates at first but will eventually fade into the background and allow the citrus to shine. Scents of caramel, pineapple and mango emerge later.
The taste is very tropical with lots of mango, tangerine and pineapple. Grapefruit and orange are noticeable also, as well as a solid malt foundation that lends tastes of caramel and lightly toasted grains that counterbalance the 110 International Bitterness Units (IBUs). Though the 110 IBU figure may seem high (which it is) for a scale that basically measures the bitter taste imparted by hops, keep in mind that the human taste threshold for bitterness is around 100 IBU. Even though a beer may have an IBU of 110, 120 or 150, humans can only taste up to 100. While the bitterness turns up a notch as the beer warms, it is never too aggressive.
- Serving temperature: 45-50ºF
- Alcohol content: 6.8 percent ABV.
- Food pairings: spicy Indian, Thai or Mexican cuisine. Increase the heat and spice of the food if Ethos IPA proves to be too overpowering.
- Where to buy: Ethos IPA (which replaces Tallgrass IPA as the brewery’s year-round IPA) is available at most local beer retailers.
- Price: $8-9 per four-pack and $3 per single can.
