Hakuna Matata, what a glorious phrase, in Swahili it means "no worries" or "no trouble" at least according to a song I heard long ago.
Each #beersaturday I try a new beer brewed in my Down Home State of North Carolina. And I have been doing #beersaturday for many years now.
Until recently, and by recently I mean in the past two years, I have had a growing appreciation for India Pale Ales. I must admit, that prior I to my beer exploration experience spurred on by #beersaturday, I rarely drank an IPA, way too hoppy and bitter for my liking.
However, in the past few years, I have noticed that brewers have evolved the IPA from a brew for "Hopheads" to a more palatable beer for a broader market. Lets face it, there is no profit in a few hopheads demanding "more hops" when most of the living can not stomach the overpowering taste.
And yet, even in my little part of this Good Earth, here where where the dirt is red, I have noticed a divergence in the IPA even farther and farther from the "hopheads" of yore, in the environs of the Queen City aka Charlotte North Carolina. A new creation has emerged, a creation for better or worse can hardly be called an India Pale Ale, and yet it is.
If you go to the Queen City and order an IPA, don not be surprised to have a tutti fruity concoction.
By the way, "tutti fruity" is an Italian phrase that means "all fruits".
Sing it! The Charlotte brewers have mastered an IPA that is Tutti Fruity with zero bitters of the hops of a traditional IPA.
I may not be a huge fan of this development, and yet when I have a Charlotte IPA and worry about the explosion of hops, I simply say to myself "hakuna matata" . . . no worries.
BEER NAME: Hakuna Matata
STYLE: IPA
ABV: 6.6%
BREWER: D9 Brewing Co. Huntersville North Carolina
APPEARANCE: amber, pours with a healthy head, cloudy
AROMA: tutti fruity
TASTE: sweet fruit with mild hops
MOUTHFEEL: medium body, carbonates well, with a clean finish
See y'all next #beersaturday!
Until then . . . hakuna matata!
