Seasonal beers provide something for craft beer fans to look forward to. Not that we don’t love the regular beer releases- we enjoy them as well, it’s just that seasonal beers are something to anticipate and they bring out the kid in all of us. It’s like being in elementary school and anticipating Christmas or your birthday. It’s something that happens only on occasion, and that makes its arrival that much more special.
Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewing is about to release a new seasonal beer, one that is a little different from the norm and one that could be the beginning of an annual tradition if it catches on. The beer is Texas Winter IPA, a beer that comes with an important promise: 100 percent chance of hops, a promise that you know will be kept and exemplified.
Texas Winter IPA is a fruity and hoppy beer, through and through. The addition of Galaxy, Columbus, Cascade, and Simcoe hope adds to the fruity personality and guarantees that Saint Arnold Texas IPA will deliver on its promise. There is a caramel malt backbone to keep the hops at a reasonable level of balance, but there is no mistaking this beer’s hop- accented attributes.
The hop bill alone would be enough to ensure that Texas IPA asserts its fruity dimensions, but there is more. Saint Arnold Brewing adds 10 pounds of Texas Ruby grapefruit puree to each barrel of beer to further up the fruity ante. The beer is dry- hopped with Galaxy hops to, once again, make sure that the 100% chance of hops is a promise not just made, but one certain to be kept.
Saint Arnold Texas IPA weighs in at 7.1 percent alcohol by volume and follows Christmas Ale in the seasonal lineup. Look for Texas IPA in cans, bottles, and on draft wherever Saint Arnold beer is sold. Texas winter weather might tend to be unpredictable, but there is no doubt that this new winter IPA will provide consistent hop goodness between now and spring.
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