Town Hall Masala Mama IPA

I'm still scratching my head over what took me so long to visit the Town Hall Brewery. It had been in business five full years before I walked in the door in 2002, and most of those years I worked nearby and passed it often. Did I just not trust brewpubs back then? Couldn't imagine the beer would be any good? Afraid of what lurked inside? Who knows, who knows, but once I did, and ordered up a Masala Mama IPA, I swiftly determined to make up for lost time. I was soon a Masala Mama addict, a subset of the local beer community that is loyal, large, and strong. I know many at the pub who drink nothing but Mama, and may occasionally try a new brew, but quickly go right back to the hoppy nectar.

So, on January 1 of 2003, I returned from a visit to the brewpub my senses swimming with the memory of Mama, and entered the very first review of it on BeerAdvocate.com. I didn't enter the brew, though, it was already listed. Here's how it went:
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Masala Mama India Pale Ale, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN.
6.4 % ABV. 70 IBU. American IPA.

Beautiful bronze color, firm white head.

Aroma is a bubbling, bristling bouquet of intensely fruity hops, just what I love in an IPA!

Great citrus, grapefruit, peach notes, on the palate a huge bite of hops, but mellow thereafter. Tingly and tasty, this should please any hophead.

If I was a teaching assistant at the nearby U of M and I just got away from the maddening throng, this would be my solace. If I was an actor at any of the nearby theaters and I got off the boards before bar close, I'd rush here for my relief. Heck, I'm going to make it my business to have more business in this neighborhood, just to enjoy this beer more often.

Did I mention that I liked it?
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and then something interesting happened. We had the first ever local meeting of BA users at Town Hall that March, and shortly after this event, many of those in attendance wrote their reviews of Mama. Before too long, others added theirs, and around the time it had 7 reviews, someone from somewhere noticed that it was top of the American IPA list on that site. (There was no minimum reviews required, so a small number of enthusiastic ratings could make a brew with no distribution "better" than any other India Pale Ale in the world. A forum thread went up, umbrage was taken, outrage expressed. How is it possible that an IPA they had never heard of, from Minnesota of all places, could be "number one" over all others? Was it better than X, Y, or Z, or all the other IPAs those in Easterly or Westerly locations had championed?

Interest grew of course, but there was no way for these doubters to know for themselves without taking a trip to Minneapolis and visit the pub. Until that fall when the state of Minnesota passed a law allowing the existence of growlers. Not only was I drinking it at home on a regular basis, but my friends and I had a way to trade with others in other states. We started with nearby ones, as we figured out how to do this, and started spreading our network as interest grew. I can't tell you how many growlers I shipped in 2003-oh, I don't know, 2006 or 07 or so. I've stopped the trading, pretty much, due to the expense and my contentment with the beers I can get here, but I'm no longer needed as the traders pool has grown so much over the years that there is certainly no lack of traders to help out anyone desperate to taste Mama.

It didn't take long after this growler shipping for Mama to make it into the BeerAdvocate Top 100. This made it the first Minnesota beer on the list, as well as the only one available only on tap. Plenty of naysayers then, as before, but eight years after that initial outcry, Mama is currently at 614 reviews, an A/Outstanding rating, and resting at around #35 on the Top 100 (it bounced around the top 20 for the first few years.)

Although I did my small part to help spread the love for this great hometown IPA, all praise goes to Mike Hoops for keeping this hophead's solace going strong, a beer we can find comfort in, and count on, day in, day out.