This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Ommegang's Nirvana IPA.
About a year and half ago, I wrote about Duvel's acquisition of Boulevard and Ommegang (for the full post please click here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/10/sunday-night-suds-boulevard-pale-ale.html). At the time I speculated as to whether the fact that Duvel was under hashgacha in Europe would lead to the production of kosher certified Ommegang beers.
Well, the wait is over as the first round of kosher certified Ommegang brews has hit the shelf. The fact that this beer is kosher certified is entirely due to the purchase of both breweries by Duvel, as the Nirvana IPA is actually brewed in the Boulevard plant for Ommegang.
After learning of this cross-over kosher brew, I went to my local #1 beer store (Beverage Barn on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park) and plunked down 11.99 to buy a six pack of the Nirvana IPA. Certainly pricey, but since the beer is sold in sealed six packs there was no way to buy just one bottle. But even the store clerk who helped me find this beer was excited by this turn of events. He did not know or care that the Nirvana IPA was kosher (and I did not advise him of it either) but it did represent the first Ommegang IPA.
So what does the beer taste like? Its a somewhat mild IPA with some pine and citrusy-grapefruit like hops on the back end. The beer is a little thin for an IPA and is more cloudy than I would have expected, but it is very drinkable. They may say that this beer is 6.5% abv, but that seems higher than you would expect from the taste of the brew.
Ommegang Nirvana IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Kansas City, but the bottle I purchased did not have the certification mark on the label. If you would like the LOC from the Va'ad, please let me know and I will email it to you.
To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link -http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42/159676.
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).
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
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