Beer: Hubert
Brewery: Melvin Brewing (Alpine, WY)
Style: Pale Ale – American
6% ABV / 66 IBU
With 6% ABV and 66 IBU, it’s hard to ignore the signs: Hubert is clearly the Pale Ale of the Beast. Like the Devil, Melvin Brewing’s American Pale Ale appears in different forms. Hubert seems like an IPA at first, but it reveals itself to be a very hop-forward APA—a pale ale turbo-charged with juicy citrus and piney notes. Which, truthfully, sounds like an entry-level IPA, but the thing anchoring Hubert to the pale ale category is strong hop character without an equivalent amount of bitterness. All pleasure, no pain.
In some ways, Hubert—which won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2017 – presents like a traditional pale ale. It pours with a light golden color and medium carbonation (and thus, a decent white head and a high degree of lacing). It’s a lighter bodied pale ale, but that turns out to be strongly in its favor, because there’s good mouthfeel and, perhaps more importantly, the hoppiness really comes through. Hubert offers ample evidence of why patronizing pale ales may be the key to resisting our IPA overlords.
Hop-wise, Hubert melds the ubiquitous Simcoe and Citra with Columbus and CTZ (actually a mix of Columbus, Tomahwak and Zeus). The malt profile in Hubert is pretty non-existent, but the combination of hops is a master stroke—all of it is geared towards creating a strong hop taste and floral aroma, without an equivalent amount of bitterness. Which is to say that Hubert is extremely bold and flavorful, likely thanks to the addition of the CTZ varietal. As Melvin Brewing notes on the can: “Don’t hate, party.” Party on with the one forever, dudes.
For more info, check out Melvin Brewing here.