Madeline Carroll/Editor in Chief
CURTIS HENRY
Sports Editor
The usual disclaimers regarding this column still apply. I’m not a beer expert, nor am I a food critic. I’m not a professional in the art of the review, and I probably shouldn’t be involved at all with the Life & Arts section.
All disclaimers aside, I’m still here to spread the good word as it pertains to the beers of the world, specifically the beers of EBC.
It is well-known by now that I have less-than-fond perceptions of India Pale Ales, more commonly referred to as IPAs. To say that without using a euphemism, I think that IPAs suck. Actually, I know they suck. They are garbage, and people who enjoy these pathetic excuses for beer are also garbage.
Through all of my beer drinking endeavors — admittedly, too many for someone aged 22 — I have never encountered an IPA that was not a personal assault on my taste buds. Swallowing the bitter drinks has always been like pulling teeth, and when ordering a drink at the bar, I can typically list 25 better options before even thinking about an IPA. If nothing else, IPAs typically taste like liquefied pine needles. They are cringe worthy.
This week I was introduced to Fistful of Peel, an EBC staple. For all of the bad things I can say about IPAs, this one in particular isn’t awful. That is truly the extent of the good things I can say about this beer. It’s not garbage.
This isn’t a positive review by any stretch of the imagination. Fistful of Peel isn’t an excellent beverage, and it certainly isn’t something that I would ever wholeheartedly recommend to someone that I hold near and dear to me. That said, it is miles ahead of any other IPA that I have ever consumed, simply based on the fact that its taste didn’t make me long for the sweet release of death.
Its classification as an IPA automatically makes it, to my experience, the best of the worst. This drink is the golden trash bag in the dumpster that is the entirety of the IPA family.
EBC’s description of the brew is that it is, “a citrus IPA brewed with citrusy American lime and grapefruit peel.” This simple definition hits the bullseye. Fistful of Peel is a bitter blend that is complimented by the sour components of lime and grapefruit. The result is a crisp initial flavor with a more bitter aftertaste: a staple of all IPAs. For some reason, this one sort of works.
At 8 percent alcohol by volume, Fistful of Peel doubles up as an imperial. Its 82 rating on the international bitterness unit scale (IBU) is appropriate, but misleading. It’s not nearly as brutal as other IPAs that have lower ratings. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, this isn’t a great brew. It simply is leaps and bounds ahead of all of the worse brews that are known as IPAs.
Verdict: I wouldn’t order one of them, but if it’s your type of thing, go for it.
Rating: 2.5/5
