Beer Thoughts: Twisted Pine Roots Revival Carrot IPA
Beer Info:
Twisted Pine started a series of beers called Farm to Foam which will feature beers that are 100% Colorado made. The "brewers aim to utilize not only locally grown grain and hops, but 'fruits, roots, seeds, and vegetables that spring from Colorado soil as well." There will be 2-4 per year, and the first is Roots Revival Carrot IPA, made for the 25th Anniversary of the Boulder Farmer's Market. It "brewed with barley and wheat grown in Alamosa, Cascade hops from the Uncompahgre Valley, Crystal hops from Niwot and organic carrots harvested less than 15 miles from the brewery." The carrots were incorporated into the mash. The beer comes in 750ml bottles, and sits at 6.9% ABV.
Beer Thoughts:
You can probably tell, due to Beers Made By Walking, and certain comments I've made about organic, local, and indigenous
beers, that Roots Revival was a beer that made me very excited. I asked Coaltrain to buy it, they bought it, the second I found out it was in the store I headed down there to pick it up. Anyway, the beer...
Beautiful artwork on the bottle. The beer pours a cloudy light orange, with an off white head. The aroma has some grassy notes but mostly a honey, buttery, and somewhat vegetal, earthy smell. I would have guessed Centennial hops before reading about the beer. But, Crystal hops probably contributed some of the earthy notes here. Concerning the aroma and flavor, there's definitely 'something different' going on, although in a blind tasting I wouldn't have guessed carrots, although I certainly would say the beer has sweet vegetable notes. These are reasonably subtle notes though, not what you might expect when someone says Carrot IPA. You might expect, as I did, a Juiced-Carrot-Drink with some bitter beery notes, but it's not that, it's more like a nicely-bittered beer with a light and sweet vegetable profile, which I assume to be the carrots. There is some biscuit malt flavor, it's earthy all around, and it's not overly bitter but there's definitely a clean, crisp bitter finish.
Our Recommendation:
This is a fun beer. I recommend this for all beer geeks, for anyone who likes local foods, and anyone who just wants a weird/fun beer to try. Many will appreciate it, many will think it's an okay drink, some won't like it, some might really like it a lot. For me, I wouldn't drink it on a regular basis but I'm very happy to have this (and another bottle, and I wouldn't mind a third either). I appreciate it as a strange vegetable ale, and it gets me excited for future beers in this vein. It's certainly worth having and enjoying for what it is.
Drinking/Storing:
I imagine it won't do super well with age, so keep it refrigerated and drink it sooner rather than later. Although, I am tempted to see if the carrots reveal themselves more when the hops fade out...? It's a fun sharing beer. I split it in half with a friend. That was perfect. Tulip glass works well.
Where From:
Twisted Pine Brewing, Boulder, CO.
Full Disclosure:
I paid full price for this bottle - $11.99.
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