Widmer Broken Halo IPA

Happy Silver (25th) Beeriversary to me!

The third-to-last beer in the "Clean Out the Fridge Countdown" is also the 25th beer I've reviewed for this blog, the Widmer Brewery's Broken Halo IPA. While Widmer has released many an IPA in the past, they have usually been as seasonals. Their first one that I know of was Spring Run IPA, which was brewed in the spring months until 2004. After changing their hopping technique and lowering the ABV slightly, an IPA was released as the first of their "W" series of craft beers for the first part of 2005 (the beer itself was called W'05). My guess is that the beer was such a success that it was re-branded as Broken Halo IPA in 2006, complete with a new logo and packaging. (I confirmed that W'05 and Broken Halo are almost identical.) The best part for hop-heads: this Widmer IPA is available year-round.


Here are the stats:

Widmer Broken Halo IPA
BREWERY: Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR, USA
FIRST BREWED: 2005 (as W'05)
CALORIES/SERVING: 190 per 12 oz. bottle
BITTERNESS: 45 IBU
ABV: 6.0%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 14.25° Plato (1058.22)
MALTS: Pale, caramel 10L & 20L, carapils
HOPS: Alchemy, cascade, zeus
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 42-46°F (6-8°C)
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: "Spicy hot foods like Mexican, Asian dishes, or hot wings"
AWARDS:

I got all information but the calories, awards, and serving temperature from Widmer's Broken Halo website. The rest came from e-mails to the brewery.

Once again, the aroma hit me like a ton of bricks. This time, it was a hoppy aroma that spilled forth from the beer as I poured it. Seeing as how it's an IPA, that's par for the course. The beer poured a cloudy golden-amber color with a nice foamy white head that took awhile to dissipate. The head itself was very hoppy and tickled my upper lip as I drank the beer. While this beer was hoppy, it didn't really turn me off to it (I'm not usually a fan of IPAs) and was quite drinkable. The only problem with the hoppier beers is that they tend to leave a bit of a dry aftertaste in my mouth, but that's quickly solved by drinking more of the beer.

Overall, I like this IPA, but it may be a little tame for total hop-heads. It's a good beer, but if you want a true hoppy adventure, stick with Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale. For those of us not so IPA-inclined, this one is a good-tasting romp through a hop patch.

Prost, and here's to at least 25 more beers reviewed!

UPDATE: I filled in some of the blanks from an e-mail I received on September 25th, 2007. Thanks so much David! I really appreciate it.