Midtown’s Memphis Made Brewing Co. hosted its annual HOPPED beer festival late last month, featuring several special-release hoppy beers.
One of the standout beers from the event — which is still on tap for a limited time in Memphis Made’s taproom — was the Hazy Blood Orange Creamsicle IPA. The beer is bursting with citrus aromas and flavor and has a distinct orange color, befitting its name.
Tyler Brown, a brewer at Memphis Made, developed the recipe for the beer. He explained the inspiration behind it.
“The main idea that brought it about is that I love Orange Creamsicle popsicles. I remember chasing the ice cream truck as a kid to get one if I had some cash,” Brown said.
“I’ve also been wanting to use Blood Orange in any recipe I could use it in. I really love the taste that came out of the hops and some bitterness from the puree.
“The look in a glass is something that I wasn’t going for, but I love how it turned out. Also, it’s a good sipping beer and the lacing in the glass is great. Nice head retention.”
The Creamsicle IPA was brewed with Motueka and Galaxy hops, added late in the boil to really bring out the hop flavors. The beer was dry-hopped with just Galaxy hops, which pack aromas of peach, guava and oranges.
The beer was made with two-row malt, wheat and a small amount of Red X malt for color. Oats were added to give it some haze.
Tonight at Hammer and Ale starting at 5 p.m., beers from HOPPED will be on tap for a special event, including the Creamsicle IPA, as well as Talus and Ariana SMASH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beers. Memphis Made will also be giving away some HOPPED glasses, posters and a glow-in-the-dark HOPPED water bottle.
Since the Creamsicle IPA is a limited-release beer, once the taproom sells out, it’ll be gone. However, Memphis Made co-founder Andy Ashby hinted it might not be gone forever.
“People really like the beer,” Ashby said, “so you’ll probably see it pop up again.”
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