Reuben’s Brews Bits & Bobs

2018 Bits and Bobs is a fruity IPA, with overripe fruit notes, and a juicy body. It’s in the West Coast IPA style. For Bits and Bobs’ inaugural release, we are taking some processes, malt and hop combinations that we first used during 2017. We aren’t using any caramel malt in this beer – we’re relying on a predominantly Pale malt bill to provide balance and let the hops shine brightly, with only some Vienna malt providing balancing sweetness. We are focusing the beer on Azacca, Strata, and Citra hops. Strata, or X331 as it was originally known, we first used as part of the 3-Way collaboration with Fort George and Great Notion last year, and we immediately loved it. The soft tropical fruit notes from Strata and built upon by Azacca’s tropical fruit and citrus, with Citra providing a backbone “punch.” From a process perspective, we are using some whirlpool techniques we first tried out in 2017 to extract more flavor from the hops but while minimizing bitterness. The bitterness provides balance, but does not overpower. It wraps up the sip to leave you wanting more.