Ghost White IPA

Review Date 7/12/2016  By John Staradumsky

  Style: White IPA   Brewery: 3 Stars   Country: USA   State:DC   $ Per OZ: $.17 (B)   ABV: 5.9%

3 Stars Brewing is from Washington, D.C. I’ve never been there, but I got a can of their wonderful Ghost White IPA through the generosity of Chuck Triplett, delivered by the one and only Jefferson Evans. This was last November, and it’s been sitting in my beer fridge since then, such that when I got to drinking it, it was June already. Where does the time go?

Anyhow, someone asked me the other day just what is a White IPA anyway. I’ve always considered it a hybrid style between an IPA and a Belgian White (witbier), and indeed I think the best examples try to accomplish that. As such, it should include wheat, coriander and orange peel, if you ask me. Which you did since you’re reading this.

3 Stars Brewing Ghost White IPA does not include the latter two ingredients. Here are the actual ingredients per the brewery website:

Grain Bill: Pilsner & White Wheat and Caramel 30

Hops: Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra, Columbus

You do have the wheat malt to add the tart refreshing character of a Belgian wit, and citrusy hops to emulate the orange peel.

3 Stars Brewing Ghost White IPA has an alcohol content of 5.9% by volume and Total Wine sells it in Maryland for $10.99 a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans. My can was packaged on 6/22/2015 (Happy Birthday Doug!) and I drank it on June 26^th, 2016.

3 Stars Brewing Ghost White IPA pours to a bright orange color with a thick spritzy head of foam and an explosively citric orange and bitter orange peel nose. Taking a sip, the beer is smooth and easy drinking with a light caramel maltiness, some tart wheat to lighten things up even more all followed by juicy citrus orange and lighter grapefruit hop notes. In the finish, I get a grassy hop and orange rind bitterness that lingers on the tongue a while after sipping.

This beer is delicious! Beer geeks whine all the time that IPAs must be drunk immediately after they’re brewed, but here’s another that proves with proper storage they can age and, in this case, actually improve. I think that as a good IPA with hops like the ones used here get older some of the grapefruit notes start to change to more orange-like flavors. Here. That worked tremendously well because I want bitter orange in a Wit.

One of the better White IPAs I’ve tasted, 4.5 stars for sure, with only the lack of coriander keeping it from being perfect in my book.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??