Beer: Palate Jack
Brewery: American Solera (Tulsa, OK)
Style: IPA – New England
6.5% ABV / N/A IBU

Will any style every dethrone the India Pale Ale? The IPA has been the most-consumed style in America every single month in 2020, and for many, many years before that. All day, every day, everything’s coming up IPA. The big fear is that extremity in the IPA market will reach a tipping point where IPAs are so aggressively hopped that they’re undrinkable. Sorry, but we’re already there. What’s next? Hop juice resin cartridges for vape pens?

American brewers need to dial it back a bit and take some cues from what’s going on over in Australia and New Zealand. The latter is responsible for 35% of the world’s hop production, but the idea of a DDH DIPA is a foreign concept. Australia and New Zealand are all about session IPAs and moderately-hopped India Pale Lagers, lower ABV styles that eschew shock and awe in favor of a balance of malts and hops. As a brewing operation, that’s where Tulsa’s American Solera has been trending for the last few years: they understand the power of the hops.

American Solera’s Palate Jack is a hazy IPA with a tropical bouquet, but it’s one to rally around. The genius of this NEIPA is that there’s no bitterness. For the hop-heads that trend towards the Hellraiser principle of “no pleasure without pain,” there is no pain in Palate Jack. It’s a straightforward NEIPA with minimal carbonation and strong pineapple notes from the Sabro hops. Making more out of less seems to be a good mantra for 2020, and Palate Jack is an exemplar.

For more info, check out American Solera here.