Sunday Night Suds - He'Brew Genesis Dry Hopped Session Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at He'Brew's Dry Hopped Session Ale (15th Anniversary).

As regular readers of this blog are aware, one of my favorite styles of beer is the India Pale Ale. Although the name of this He'Brew beer is quite a mouthful, at its essence it is an American version of the IPA, and a tasty one at that.

While some beer aficionados like to draw a distinction between APA's (American Pale Ales) and IPA's, I fail to see much of a difference. The APAs may lack some maltiness which is supposedly characteristic of IPA's, I find that the domestic brews which carry the IPA moniker are nearly identical to those which call themselves IPAs. Of course, this might be due to the fact that my favorite domestic IPAs tend to be stronger in hop flavor, but in truth, I cannot really say that the average craft brewed APA lacks in hop bite.

One of the nice things about the He'Brew Genesis Ale is that the label identifies the hops, malts and dry hops which are infused in the brew. While some other beers may list a few of these ingredients, the Genesis Ale label is more informative than average.

But leaving aside all of these factoids, you must be asking yourself - what does the beer taste like? The answer is simply - it tastes like an IPA, albeit a slightly mellow variety.

The beer poured a dark orange color with significant lacing which lasted much longer than expected. The first taste is floral hops with a good deal of pine, letting you know that there is cascade and simcoe (and somewhat similar to the Samuel Adams Latitude 48). The aftertaste lingers somewhat, but mellows out after a while and made me think of the vastly underrated Saranac Pale Pale Ale (no, that is not a typo).

I would recommend this beer with spicy dishes or lightly charred meat. I do not see this as a "pizza" beer as it would be better served with fleishig.

The Genesis Dry Hopped Session Ale is an unflavored beer which is under the kosher supervision of the KSA.

For the experts' take on the He'Brew Genesis Dry Hopped Session Ale, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/262/76295 .

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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