Here’s a new brewery with a really neat name: Asgard Brewing Company of Columbus, Tennessee. As a big fan of Norse mythology, I was hoping to find beer from Asgard (that sounds rather metaphysical), and things looked promising late last year. Wild Hare Beer Company in Spring Hill had one of their beers listed as on tap when I perused their website, though just my luck, the keg had kicked by the time I got there.

A subsequent visit in October was a little more fruitful, however, and I found a 4-pack of Asgard Vestri West Coast Style IPA. This is West Coast style IPA in the old style, though, the one I like. The one with malt. Some background on the beer from the brewery website:

This West Coast IPA is brewed with three distinct varieties of malted barley, Pale 2-row, Munich, and Carapils. These malts provide Vestri with the structure to support the copious amounts of west coast style hops, as well as the 7.4% alcohol by volume content that makes Vestri a proper West Coast India Pale Ale. Immense amounts of Columbus, Centennial, and Simcoe hops give Vestri its signature west coast style.

The label gets into the naming of the beer:

According to Norse mythology, Vestri was one of four dwarves who held the heavenly dome. Each of the dwarves names corresponded to the cardinal directions-Vestri being West, as he supported the Western sky.  Our Vestri IPS is brewed in the West Coast tradition, using hops that impart dank, piney, and citrus flavors. Ample hops added late in the brewing process maximize hop flavor and aroma, yet minimize bitterness. Thus, Vestri is smooth, crisp, and refreshing.

I’m not sure what I paid for my 4-pack because I lost my receipt. I should mention the beer was four months old when I tried it on October 7^th as the cans are stamped packaged on 04/03/2018. That almost stopped me from buying, but I really wanted to try the beer and hey, IPA was invented to stand the tests of time. The beer was refrigerated, too, as all beer is at Wild Hare. Vestri IPA has an alcohol content of 7.4% by volume.

An interesting side note to the beer is that Asgard is actively seeking investors to expand. They are looking to build more taprooms in Tennessee, and trying to raise a half million dollars, with a minimum $100 investment. They commit to a payback subject to normal investment risks, of 5% of revenues per quarter until 150% of the investment is returned, or 200% for the first $100,000 in investments. Simple math says Asgard will be paying back $800,000.

That might take some time at 5% of earnings per quarter. The brewery will need $16 Million in revenue to pay back their investors. They claim revenues of $720,000 a year at their current location, so $16 Million would take over 22 years to realize. Of course, the goal of the investment is to expand which should reduce that amount of time. For my part, not living in Tennessee, I’ll simply support them with my business.

Asgard Vestri West Coast Style IPA pours to a bright orange amber color with a thick creamy head of foam and noticeably resiny hops in the nose. A thick lacyer of Brussels Lace forms on the sides tof my glass and follows the liquid as it descends. Taking a sip, the beer offers solid caramel malt up front followed by citrusy grapefruit and resiny pine. It finishes quite bitter with harsh herbal notes and citrus rind. Very tasty indeed, with citrus and herbal mint throughout.

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