A Gazelle or A Big Goat - Big Sky IPA

[mikebiewer]

I've been on a crazy IPA binge as of late. So many people like them and I continue to try to find one that makes me fall in love with the style. This one was pretty good, gotta be honest. I didn't know what to expect from a small brewery with a goat on the front of the bottle that I had to blow a little bit of dust off of.

Review of Big Sky IPA

Packaging

For me, there is nothing special about the packaging at all. Its pretty basic and looks a little to old for me. From my understanding the label is a painting of a mountain goat created by one of the founding brewers mothers. It is a very nice painting, but every time I see an animal on a label, I always feel like it is that animals piss. Big Sky Brewing has other brands that include “Moose Drool” and “Scape Goat” which leads me to believe that the name of this beer is a little uninspired. The label tells me its an IPA and that it has 6.2% ABV in it. A little more information would be nice, but like I said, there isn’t anything special about it. Very classic.

Appearance

A deep copper, a bit deeper than I’m used to seeing. A very nice fluffy white head with some good lacing down the sides.

Smell

Very hoppy. I can smell citrus hops, but I also seem to dig out a little bit of pine or mint within the hop smell. If anyone knows what kind of hops give it that pine or mint, I’d love to know for future reference. I don’t get any sweetness or malts in the smell.

Taste

Bitter! Its all hops. Even after it warms up, there isn’t much sweetness. I enjoy how dry it is, but I’d like just a pinch of balance for all this hop flavor. Some of the bitterness is a bit earthy, a little dirty.

Mouthfeel

Not much carbonation, but the acids from the hops hit the tongue and sting it nicely. It is a medium bodied IPA that, again, sticks to the roof of my mouth.

Drinkability

I would put this up there as a beer I could drink a few of. It has the dryness that I like, the hop characteristics that I’ve come to enjoy, but could use a pinch of sweetness to balance it. I’m not 100% of the bitterness after a few. However, I do enjoy this IPA. This would be really good with some spicy chili or taco’s or spicy shrimp.

Overall

I’d say the same thing as I have for the past couple a IPA’s. If you like bitterness and alcohol dryness, this is for you. Give it a try and tell me what you think! I’d love to hear about it.

Have you tried this brew? I’d love to hear about it. Plus I’d love to know where you live. Distribution on this beer is pretty centered so I’d love to know where you got it! Enjoy!

[Pharmbrewer]

I'm from missoula so I get this pretty regularly. I agree with you it is a nice easy drinking IPA. Big Sky has really started to step it up lately They have started a 406 series (406 is the phone area code for all of montana) that is a seasonal offering the spring batch was a saison that was ok IMHO. They also just took first place at the local brewfest with their cowboy coffee porter and this beer sold out fast so I'll be on the lookout to see it offered in bottles in the future. They have some barrel aged beers available in bombers throughout the year, and moosedrool and troutslayer are now available in cans. They also are great supporters of the local homebrewing community They run a contest with the local homebrew club here every year where the club picks the style and the brewers at big sky judge all the entries. The winner gets to brew a full sized batch of their beer at big sky brewery where it is served on tap. Also half the proceeds from that batch go to a local charity chosen by the club. My point in all this rambling is that they are a solid brewery who support homebrewers and their community. I would recommend picking up their beer anytime.

Prost!
PB

[mikebiewer]

That is pretty cool man!

None of that type of information will ever get out to the public unless someone mentions it, like you did. I have a lot of respect for a local brewery supporting their local people as much as it supports them. That is really what it is all about.

I'm starting to notice a little bit of a trend with craft breweries now. It seems a lot of places are creating their great beers, but are now doing special releases. I wonder if that is because there is so much competition for a beer like an IPA that you can't really compete. So its best to make a special release Barley Wine or something. You probably get a better payback on the investment, plus it builds your reputation as a brewery.

What do you think?

Thanks for the comments!

[huskerbrew]

I agree with everything you said. One of my favorite IPAs when I'm in the mood to drink more than just a couple. But to clarify, the label features an antelope or pronghorn, not a mountain goat. Not trying to nitpick, just clarifying. Great review though! For me it's a tie between IPA and Moose Drool for favorite Big Sky brew.

[mikebiewer]

Thanks for the comment.

The main reason for the title was to grab attention of a reader. It seems to have backfired on me a little bit because a lot of people are telling me the same thing.

I've queued up another brew from Big Sky for an upcoming review. Hopefully I get that animal right!

Thanks again!