Back Road Brewery
LaPorte, IN
Available: IN
Back Road Brewery is the first microbrewery in LaPorte, IN. The brewery`s flagship beer, the first original recipe of 1997, is brewed with Styrian Goldings and English Fuggles hops, and dry hopped.
ABV: 5.0
ABW: n/a
Color: 12
Bitterness: n/a
Original gravity: 1050
Back Road Ale is a two-time trickster. Pouring a rich amber with a thin ecru head that fades quickly, Back Road offers a grainy, sweet malt with just a touch of herbal hops in the aroma. That's the first time the beer fooled me: At first sip, the British hops—the Fuggles, especially—come forward more strongly than anticipated, based on the aromas. This flagship beer fools another time, too, as its carbonation is far more effervescent than its head suggests. In all, this is an enjoyable English-style pale ale. You fooled me twice, Back Road! Shame on me, but good on you.
One sip and I feel comfortably at home. This is a beer that definitely owes more to our side of the pond than yours. The hops are full but subtle and sit on top of a smooth, buttery maltiness, bringing vague fruit notes that suggest melon and other tropicals, and maybe also a splash of citrus, but without ever being decisive. The exaggerated carbonation may be a little off-putting but, on the other hand, it makes the texture light and airy, adding delicacy to the beer. Tasty but restrained, it’s a British-style best bitter you could quaff all night.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
