Steve Luke, the head brewer and founder of Cloudburst Brewing, was halfway through a day of brewing when he handed me a small glass of A$ap Hoppy, an IPA conditioned with wet, uncured Centennial hops. I took a sip and it popped with leafiness, like sucking on a freshly picked herb. Fruit flavors then started to dominate, with notes of pineapple and tropical fruit, before the beer delivered a classic bitter IPA finish.
I told all of this to Luke, and he turned and walked back behind the bar and poured himself a small glass, took a sip, and seemed surprised by the beer’s finish, “I didn’t remember it being this bitter yesterday,” he told me.
