Epic Brewing
Salt Lake City, UT
Available: CO, ID, VA
Epic is Utah’s first brewery since Prohibition to brew exclusively beer that is greater than 3.2 percent ABW. This pale ale is hopped with Columbus, Centennial and Amarillo, and dry-hopped with Simcoe.
ABV: 6.8
ABW: n/a
Bitterness: 48
Original gravity: 1068
Pretty pour of classic amber with golden highlights, with a beautiful tight, light cappuccino colored head. The nose is pungent, a tympani of humulus lupulus recognizable two feet away. Hops follow through on the palate, pretty well dominating some rich malt flavors and stong taste. Drunk on its own, its too hoppy for my palate. This beer needs food, especially spicy food that can compete with the hops. I recommend Szechwan, Hunan, or Indian, with lots of mango pickle. Would be delicious with kim chi, too.
Wow. A psycHOPathic pale ale. Nothing solemn about this brew. Someone evidently hacked into their regular pale ale to create this phenom. I wonder whether if a sprinkle a bit on my wrist it would work as a pheromone? Nicely done “Ta-da” brew. Approaches the high end of what a pale ale expectation might be. Hoppy, hazy copper, heady, malt and a bittersweet bite best enjoyed at Twilight.
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
