Last night as a celebration for a good review at work, my wife and I went to a favorite restaurant, Cane Rosso. Super short non beer related comment, I know that Cane Rosso is all about pizza but if you go their give their Cuban Sandwich a try. It’s absolutely incredible. While we were there, I also got a beer to wash it down. A Martin House Cellarman’s Reserve IPA.
The Martin House Cellarman’s Reserve IPA is a unique IPA in that it is partially a rotating seasonal. This beer has a simple malt recipe of Munich and 2-row grains to give the beer a balanced taste and then will only have one type of hop added in the boil.
The fun part about this is that the brewers use a different hop when they do this. So if you try this now, you will get a slightly different taste than if you try it a month from now because you will be experiencing a completely different hop varietal! As a home brewer, this part is incredibly appreciated, because it allows me to taste the different notes that different hops bring to the table. Since Martin House started with a home brewer I think that this was a goal.
Now this particular batch that I got to try was made with one of my favorite hops, Cascade. Cascade hops put off the much lighter and crisper IPA smells in my opinion. You get a floral/citrusy aroma and taste from this hop. You are still able to get a bitter beer from this without getting into the heavy and almost oily bitter that you get from some English IPAs.
Due to the simple malt build and single hop profile, the Martin House Cellarman’s Reserve IPA is able to stick to the KISS rule and knock it out of the park. For those that don’t know, KISS means Keep It Simple Stupid. This simple beer allows for the ingredients to speak for themselves and make a truly great beer. Be sure to check out the page for the Martin House Cellarman’s Reserve IPA to see what hop they are using next! More importantly get out their and learn about the different hops so that you can truly taste the difference in the flavors.
