River Horse Brewing Co. - River Horse IPA

Pouring a rich and hazy amber color topped with ample foam, this IPA offers a very expressive aroma that really drew us in. Brewed with eight different varieties of hops (more when we consider Falconer’s Flight, which is itself a blend of several varieties), it’s no surprise to find quite a complex array of very fruity aromas including pineapple, orange, mango, passion fruit, tangerine, grapefruit, and even a hint of berry, not to mention floral overtones and a dollop of pine. On the palate, pale and lightly toasty, lightly caramelized malts form the central core, around which the blend of American and New Zealand hops deliver their juicy flavors. We found the bitterness quite firm but not huge, well-matched to the malt character to keep this IPA quite dry. At 5.7% ABV it’s not necessarily what we’d consider a session IPA, but we do appreciate that it’s a bit less aggressively alcoholic than many other beers in the IPA spectrum. 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.