For March, We Sipped 7 Beers From Ohio To Texas To Colorado And Beyond

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Our monthly beer-review column, which focuses on beers from out-of-state and out-of-region, covers an alcohol range of 4% to 8% this month. All the beers are available on Northeast Ohio store shelves. Cheers!

Hop Horizon

Troegs Brewery, Hershey, Pennsylvania; India Pale Ale, 6.5%

Grapefruit though not pithy, fresh pine and some orange all hit the palate in this tasty ale, which has a creamsickle finish. Citra, Mosaic and Sabro hops are used.

Powder Day IPA

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, California; and Mills River, North Carolina; India Pale Ale, 7.7%

This ale – double dry-hopped, so the brewery is going for big aroma – has orange pith across the palate with big hops throughout the sip. A bit of grapefruit also comes across. Hop heads will like, but we’d rather reach for the brewery’s flagship Pale Ale.

Citrus Rescue

New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colorado; and Asheville, North Carolina; India Pale Ale, 6.5%

Brewed with orange juice and orange peel. Orange-grapefruit pith hits you immediately, but those flavors are followed quickly by an orange creaminess. Fruit flavors – fresh berry – intertwine nicely with the hop bitterness. Very hoppy, not sweet.

Blue Moon LightSky Tropical Wheat

Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, Colorado, Wheat ale, 4%

Strong aroma with fruit and a creaminess that precedes a dryness. Hoppiness is there at first but falls off fast. The ale is brewed with pineapple and orange peel, but there is no pithiness coming across at all. Billed as having 3.4 grams of carbohydrates and 95 calories. The brewery recently launched this beer and has a promotion under way to win a cooler and 12-pack.

Blue Moon LightSky Citrus Wheat

Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, Colorado, Wheat ale, 4%

Brewed with tangerine peel, the mix of fruit flavors is there but the finish falls off immediately. Light and dry. Billed as having 3.6 grams of carbohydrates and 95 calories. The beer came out in 2020.

Lone Star

Lone Star Brewery, Austin and Fort Worth, Texas, Lager, 4.5%

This old brand was a surprise find. Smooth, quaffable, reminiscent of a Cream Ale. Just barely a slight sweet tinge with good carbonation. The brewery, co-founded by Adolphus Busch, dates to 1884 in San Antonio. After a series of ownership changes, it’s now owned by Pabst Brewing.

Phantom Forest

Madtree Brewing Co., Cincinnati, Imperial India Pale Ale, 8%

Billed as a “Juicy Imperial” IPA, the hearty ale has orange and grapefruit flavors with a piney backbone and strong hop bitterness, followed by a long pithy finish. It’s brewed with Mosaic, Citra and Simcoe hops.

This month’s favorite: Citrus Rescue.

Our reviews: Most of the beers we buy come from Northeast Ohio retail shops and stores. We choose from Lizardville in Copley, plus Heinen’s, Red, Wine & Brew; Acme, Giant Eagle, Mustard Seed Market, Whole Foods and others.

Like beer? Check out GiveThemBeer for gifts for beer lovers. The company offers craft-beer baskets, seasonal selections and more.

2022 monthly beer reviews

For January, we tried 6 beers from breweries in 6 states

Warm yourself with these beers for February: 8 sippers for cold nights

I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.

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