Road Trippin

To celebrate their 20^th anniversary in business the good people at Mc Hughs have teamed up Kinnegar to release a special beer. Road Trip a 6.2% American inspired pale ale. I am a big fan of Kinnegar, their Black IPA is one of the best around.  Therefore, I had high expectations of this beer and the early word was this was a beer to try.

 Colour:  Amber in the glass with a good firm head.  Its darker than most pale ales, but it is a big field to play in anyway. A little hazy, but you are warned of that on the label and in my experience it a help hold some of the more delicate hop aromas. 

Aroma: Big hit of perfumery hops with a touch of an herbal note to it. Underpinning this was candy/caramel sweetness with a dash of maltiness. All rounded off with a very pleasant dank/ piney C hop finish. Very American centric so far as one would expect as the hop listed are Chinook, Summit, Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial and then dry-hopped with a healthy dose of Amarillo, Centennial, and Citra!!

Taste: What hit me initially was the sherbet and grapefruit pith along stick hop oils, that all played very well together.  Bringing up the rear was malt backbone. That did not overplay its hand and overpower the hop flavours. A good but not over carbonation helped meld these entire things together. All in all, a well brewed beer. One I really enjoyed tasting and I would love to see re-brewed again.  Let’s us hope this is just the start of a beautiful relationship between Kinnignar and Mc Hughs. For disclosure, Cathal McHugh very kindly offered to send me a bottle for me to review.