Step 7: American Breakaway IPA
ABV: 7.2%
IBUs: 90
If you have made it this far, give yourself a round of applause. You have made it through the sane portion of this journey. Come close now, and take your first steps into retardation with the American Breakaway IPA.
American Brewing Company is based out of Edmonds Washington and its Breakaway IPA is one of their three staple beers. This is a pretty damn big IPA. Weighing in at 90 IBU’s this packs a hop hit that could leave you on the floor. This beer is a little fuzzy to me because every time I have a pint, I have another… I think you see where I am going with this.
To me the flavors of this beer are quite complex. It has several different kinds of malts, and even more types of hops, making it like a evil genius’ grand experiment. Experiment isn’t the right word, because American has found a way to consistently brew this to perfection. The malt has a light toasted flavor which give it some similarities to an Amber. However, the malt is somewhat hard to distinguish because the second you take a sip of this beer the only thing you can think about is the devastating hop hit that you have just experienced. The hop flavor is clean, complex, and robust. I don’t even really know what else to say. Just drink it and don’t look back.
Instructions:
You can get 22oz bottles of Breakaway in most stores for around $4.00. So grab a bottle at the store and drink it some evening while playing games, or watching a movie.
The American Brewing Company is in Edmonds, right on the waterfront. Being in Edmonds, there is no excuse to not check them out as they are right in between Seattle and everything else. Go there on a Friday or Saturday evening and hang out. At the time of writing this they have about three IPA’s on tap so give them a try too. Keep in mind that they have no food in house. They encourage patrons to bring their own food, or they have a bunch of take out menus so you can order.
