     Mad Hatter India Pale Ale (New Holland Brewing Company)
A friend of mine loves this beer and is always telling me that I need to try it. Luckily I ended up with a bottle via a recent beer trade so voila! It comes highly recommended and according to the interweb it is a well-respected IPA as well. I'm game, lets get started. From the New Holland site: "Mad Hatter is an I.P.A. that explodes with hop flavors. Dry-hopping provides a distinctive and floral hop aroma, while the lively and hoppy body is subtly balanced with delicious malt notes. Hatter's hop character makes it a great fit for spicy dishes, bitter greens and beef." Here we go... Pour - deep orange, almost blood orange juice in color with some lighter tones when held up to the light. Head is abut an inch of dish soapy off-white foaminess. Aroma - herbal, hay, grass, lemon, orange, tangerine and some floral notes. Not a big bad piney IPA but much more subdued. Taste - lots of sweet orange, lemon peel, fresh grass, some bitterness and a good dose of maltiness to back things up. Reminds me more of a American Pale Ale as its pretty balanced without too much in the way of assertive hoppiness.
Overall - Not a bad beer by any means and one that I'd be happy to drink all night. Will it blow your mind? Probably not. Will it makes its way into your stomach happily and easily? Yes, it certainly will.
Would I buy more of it? - sure, why not. Wait, they don't sell their beer out here in Massachusetts. Well, next time I am in Michigan I'll order a pint.
Note - this is good trivial knowledge from Wikipedia.
"Although the name "Mad Hatter" was undoubtedly inspired by the phrase "as mad as a hatter", there is some uncertainty as to the origins of this phrase. As mercury was used in the process of curing pelts used in some hats, it was impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hatmaking process. Hatters and mill workers often suffered mercury poisoning as residual mercury vapor caused neurological damage including confused speech and distorted vision; hatmaking was the main trade in Stockport, near where Carroll grew up. It was not unusual then for hatters to appear disturbed or mentally confused; many died early as a result of mercury poisoning. However, the Mad Hatter does not exhibit the symptoms of mercury poisoning, which include "excessive timidity, diffidence, increasing shyness, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, and a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive."
Posted by Russ Labels: American IPAs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
