Foothills Brewing - Jade IPA

Pouring a bright golden color with good clarity and a voluminous head of dense foam that leaves plenty of lace as it drops, this Gold Medal winner at the 2017 North Carolina Brewers' Cup looks inviting as it rests in the glass, offering aromatic fireworks as we take a sniff. Look for an orange-grapefruit-lemon citrus character along with tropical notes akin to pineapple and passion fruit. We picked up some soft floral overtones, too, along with some herbal spice. In the flavor, the tasty malt backbone presents a crackery and lightly toasty quality with a touch of round caramelization. The five different hop varieties Foothills employs deliver a big, juicy punch with pithy citrus and tropical notes, a hint of melon, and a bit of a spicy bite thanks in part to Pacific Jade hops from New Zealand, which lend their name to this IPA. Bitterness comes through very firm at 82 IBU, augmented by a touch of spicy alcohol that peaks through every now and then after the beer warms a bit in the glass. For pairing options, we'd recommend playing off of the beer's citric and spicy qualities; a spicy lemongrass chicken pho sounds great to us, but any number of Vietnamese and Thai dishes would work equally well. Cheers!

Foothills Brewing opened for business in 2005 with a brewpub/restaurant location on Fourth Street in downtown Winston-Salem, NC. At first, co-owner Jamie Bartholomaus was pretty much alone in the brewhouse, crafting Foothills’ beers from homebrew recipes he had developed while attending the University of Georgia in Athens. These days he’s got a bit more help; strong growth since those early days means Foothills now has about 15 employees just on the brewing side of their business alone.

Bartholomaus got his start in the beer world as a homebrewer, which eventually led to him working for Athens, GA’s now defunct Blind Man Ales. After relocating to North Carolina, he did a stint with the respected Olde Hickory Brewery before jumping into business for himself with Foothills. Since then, business has grown steadily, although the last several years have been quite dramatic. After maxing out their brewpub system, Foothills acquired a new, larger, 48,000 sq. ft. facility a few miles to the southwest, which they put into production at the end of 2011, a year which saw a 46% increase in production compared to the year prior.

In 2011, Foothills also acquired the brewing division of Carolina Beer & Beverage, including their Carolina Blonde and Cottonwood Ales brands and all their brewing equipment. This gave Foothills a critical upgrade: the ability to bottle their beers and package them for retail sales instead of relying solely on draft accounts. It also means more people are now getting a chance to try their excellent brews!

For more info on the brewery and tasting room, their brewpub restaurant, or their myriad year-round, seasonal, and limited-release beers (including their legendary Sexual Chocolate imperial stout, released annually for Valentine’s Day in very limited amounts) visit www.foothillsbrewing.com.