I must admit, in full disclosure, I was given this beer for free to review by Peter David of YourPicsSuck Instagram infamy. He also told me that if I changed even a punctuation mark of the beer’s description, he’d sue me in The Peoples Court and petition to remove my “blogging license.” So here is his description:

After joining the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild I realized it was time to show this city what real ale is ‪#‎casketale‬.

I teamed up with Transplants Brewing Company and we brewed an IPA exactly according to historical records.

We entered it into the Los Angeles IPA Festival and we expect it to do extremely well. Make sure you go and vote for it so even if they don’t pick the best beer you guys show them that it’s the people’s choice.

Here is a description of the beer and the history behind it:

“Hops are a Preservative” – Indiana Pale Ale

“Indiana Pale Ale was invented in Munster Indiana in the 1700’s by Michael Floyd along with his two sons Nicholas and Simon. The US was fighting the American Indian war in the west and getting beer to the troops had been very difficult. Just when they were about to give up and start drinking wine, Michael made an amazing discovery. If he brewed his beer with an absurd amount of hops it would hold up during the months long trip in a cask. That’s when he discovered that hops are a preservative. To this day nearly all of our food is preserved with hops and hoppy beers only get better with age. Just leave the hoppiest beer you can find in the trunk of your car for three months and you’ll see what I mean. Once the war was over the troops came home with a taste for bitter old oxidized beer and the IPA style became very popular. Some people refer to this beer as being an India Pale Ale because they thought it was named after the war and not the city it was invented in, but this has been debunked years ago and is now thought of as very offensive.

Authentic Indiana Pale Ales are brewed with Liberty and Columbus hops. Liberty is why we come to America and Columbus is the great man that discovered it. Then Hoosier hops are added for flame out and dry hop. It’s nearly impossible to get these hops, but you can’t make an authentic IPA without them. Years ago we abandoned the practice of aging IPAs in a hot cask, but we think this beer is almost as good fresh.”

With that out of the way, here are my thoughts.

The beer has a rather dark reddish amber color with a good complement of frothy eggnog colored head. The aroma really accentuates the hop, with a nice balance of floral, citrus, and tropical fruit notes, but leave room for a bit of caramel malt to peak through. The flavor stays pretty close to the aroma, with the caramel and bready malt up front that progress on to earthy, floral bitterness that wraps up somewhere between citrus and breadfruit. The finish is definitely on the semi-dry side, with a hint of lingering sweetness and vanilla, that complements the residual hoppy bitterness.

Name Hops Are A Preservative Brewery Transplant Brewing Style IPA (Indiana Pale Ale) ABV 7.2% Availability One time limited release collaboration with Peter David of YourPicsSuck Rating 4 out of 5

Overall this beer brings its A game. As an IPA, which some might think it is, it presents a fun take on a malt forward version of the style that still has a few hoppy aces up its sleeve. As an Indiana pale Ale, it is the best representation of this style I’ve ever had (by default). Unfortunately, Transplant doesn’t have a very big distribution footprint at this point, so if you’d like to sample this beer either make your way up to Transplant Brewing in Palmdale or head on over to the LA IPA Festival, March 12th and 13th 2016, at Mohawk Bend in Echo Park.

Cheers!

Jeff Prosser