Pryes Miraculum IPA (?)

Maybe you read the title of this post, and you're wondering why the question mark. It seems I got a visit from the Sample Man last week while I was not at work. Sometimes when this happens the Sample Man tells my co-worker that they leave the bottle or with (I will use gender neutral terms, for sometimes the Sample Man is indeed female.) the name of the beer, or will leave a note revealing it's identity.

This SM provided a blank bottle with his (for we know that it is a he) card affixed with tape. We shall assume that it is Miraculum IPA, for that is the only beer released thus far by Jeremy Pryes, in keg form, brewed at the Lucid/North Loop facility in Minnetonka, and I haven't heard that his new brewery in North Minneapolis is up and running and producing new varieties.

So, here we go, opening a mystery bottle and taking notes....if this is indeed Miraculum, it is 75 IBUs and 6.4% ABV.

Slightly hazed, bronze/copper color, prodigious head of creamy, milky-white foam, leaving lace.

In the nose: earthy, herbal, caramel notes, low hop bitterness. Some citrus pops up. A bit of butter. Diacetyl? Not sure. In time, the citrus-y hop tones outshine those earlier impressions.

In the mouth: Big blast of hops up front, bright and bitter. Plenty potent on the palate. Long lasting bitterness in the finish. Medium body, easy drinker for the hophead. I like this more and more as I drink it, and it does taste like the pints I've had on tap over the years.

Despite what may or may not be a flaw detected early on, good IPA and you can drink it. I look forward to drinking more of them, in their taproom looking out on the Mississippi river, soon, very soon.