Huss Brewing Co.’s latest release is tailor-made for triple digits.
By Craig Outhier | Photo: Angelina Aragon
The pineapple has a heroic track record of hot-weather refreshment – witness the piña colada, the Dole Whip, the five-cup fruit salad, need we go on? But every hero needs a sidekick, and in the case of Huss Brewing Co.’s new Pink Pineapple Haze IPA, that sidekick happens to be a hot-pink cactus fruit that’s ubiquitous ‘round these parts. The idea for the beer came from owner Jeff Huss’s daughter, Lola, who asked her dad one day, “What about a fruit-forward IPA that’ll make everyone happy?” (This is standard dinnertime conversation when your family owns a brewery.) He handed the job to head brewer Matt Johnson, who drew up a recipe with enough tropical flavor to please juicy fans, enough ABV oomph (6.6 percent) to satisfy serious drinkers and enough, um, pinkness to interest non-serious drinkers. Enter the prickly pear.
- Pegging the pineapple as his central motif, Johnson gathered three pillars of hazy/juicy IPA flavor design: Azacca hops (mango and tropical notes), Idaho 7 hops (pineapple) and El Dorado hops (tropical and pineapple).
- Johnson also found himself some real pineapple, adding it judiciously during fermentation to preserve its aroma and nuance.
- And for the pink… prickly pear purée, added alongside the pineapple. “[It] was added mostly for the natural pink color,” Johnson says. “But it also adds some earthiness to the beer that delivers a smooth mouthfeel without the hot bitterness of typical IPAs.”
- The end result: a balanced tropical hazy with a slight, playful bubble-gummy flavor, perfect for hot-weather gulping. Look for it when it debuts on Valley taps and in bottle shops this May.
