My First Bullfrog: Houblonium P-38

My first "head up my ass" moment this week was not paying closer attention to Brauhaus Schmitz and my second is waiting so long to try beer from Bullfrog Brewery. I'm a little embarrassed since Bullfrog has been brewing since 1996. Yikes, that's 13 years of beer cluelessness! All that changed with a glass of Houblonium P-38 (Houblon is French for hop) last night at Capone's.

Houblonium as you may gather from the name is a Belgian-style/inspired IPA. A meshing of American IPA and Belgian Ale. I've slowly jumped into the whole Belgian IPA hybrid thing and for the most part like it. Belgian and American brewers have both caught the hybrid bug and put out their versions. Urthel Hop-It, Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel and Green Flash Le Freak are the ones I've recently had. Houblonium is one of the best American versions.

Houblonium successfuly combines sweet Belgian candi sugar with a hop bite. The beer is moderately sweet with an interesting apple and mango flavor that blends nicely with the citrus effect from the hops (Horizon, Amarillo, Saaz and Crystal). All is not candi sugar and fruit. A clove and pepper spiciness also comes out. There's a lot happening here. The flow from sweet to bitter to sweet is hypnotic. The finish continues the flavor ride and brings in some boozy warmth. This is far better than its' west coast counterpart Le Freak. I need to get back to Capone's soon before this one kicks.

Houblonium's mystical spell and some good words about the brewery from Matt Capone has got me planing a quick weekend getaway to the land of "North Central Nowhere PA". My term for the vast area north of Harrisburg. Including Bullfrog, there's a small cluster of "I'll get there someday" breweries that's so far off my beaten path that I don't dare start the journey without my trusty GPS. I've pushed this off for far too long. How PA beer wise am I if I don't make the trek to Bullfrog, Abbey Wright, Bavarian Barbarian, Old Forge and Selins Grove? Not very wise at all.