River Horse Brewing Co. - Hippotizing IPA

Lightly hazy and richly orange, this brew looked dynamite in our glasses capped by a voluminous head of foam from an aggressive pour, which laced the glass in a big way as it receded. River Horse describes Hippotizing IPA as a cross between the West Coast and New England styles of IPA, and they dry-hop this brew with a sizable 2 lbs. per barrel of Mosaic – a rather complex hop. On the nose, look for herbal and earthy notes accompanied by pine, grapefruit and tangerine zest, some floral character, and even hints of aromatic cedar. We found it medium-bodied and very smooth and creamy on the palate. The pale malt backbone is really quite robust, but it’s well-attenuated and fermented out which, in combination with the big 76 IBUs of hop bitterness, keeps this IPA nice and dry. Hop flavors are bold and delicious – a big, bold IPA for us card-carrying hop heads. Cheers!

When it opened for business in 1996, River Horse Brewing Company was at the vanguard of New Jersey’s craft brewing renaissance. Founded by two homebrewing brothers in Lambertville, NJ, on the Delaware River, River Horse was named in reference to the hippopotamus, an animal whose name is derived from the Greek words for “horse of the river.” Thus, the hippo features whimsically in all of the brewery’s logos and beer label artwork.

In 2007, the original founders passed control of the brewery to current owners Chris Walsh and Glenn Bernabeo who had desired to leave their desk jobs for something with a bit more passion. In their words, “We were finance geeks living in a world without soul. Grinding it out everyday for a fee, wearing suits and kissing butt.” Since taking over ownership, the new duo has met much success, and by 2013 demand had reached the point that the original Lambertville location was just not working. That summer, River Horse moved their operations to a new facility in Ewing which is large enough to handle production of as much as 80,000 barrels per year – far above the 9500 they had been topping out at in Lambertville.

River Horse currently produces six year-round beers as well as ten seasonals, plus a few barrel-aged and sour offerings in waxed-dipped 750ml bottles. For more info about the brewery and tour schedules, contact them at 609-883-0890 or visit. www.riverhorse.com.