Advertisement

Local craft beer of the week: Quackalope IPA, Barley Mow Brewing Co.

 
Barley Mow Brewing's Quackalope. [Photo by Geneva Johnson/special to tbt*]
Barley Mow Brewing's Quackalope. [Photo by Geneva Johnson/special to tbt*]
Published March 20, 2018

A lot has changed since Barley Mow Brewing Co. opened as the first brewery in Largo six years ago. It quickly outgrew its tiny nanobrewery and opened a large off-site production facility. Its core beers hit the shelves and eventually came back off, the result of tension between the brewery and its distributor. It opened a sister restaurant, the Raven. It split off into a separate brand — Sea Drift Ales & Lagers — and opened a second tasting room for those beers, attached to its production facility.

Now, Barley Mow's original downtown Largo location is closing its doors to make way for a condo development. Come April 2, the Raven will become the Barley Mow Brewpub, replacing the current tasting room. You'll be able to enjoy Barley Mow and Sea Drift beers at those locations for a long time to come. But first, why not stop by Largo's original brewery and have one more pint before turning the page?

Aside from the regularly rotating cask treatments and special releases, here's a recommendation: Quackalope, Barley Mow's core IPA, available on draft and in six-pack cans in the tasting room.

IPAs have changed as much as local brewing has in six years. Hazy, low-bitterness IPAs with intense tropical fruit aromas dominate current trends — a major departure from the bitter, resiny IPAs of yesterday.

Quackalope sits comfortably in the middle; a clear, golden ale that's bitter but not over-aggressive, with bright citrus notes balanced by spicy, earthy herbal tea flavors draped across a medium-dry malt base.

When Quackalope debuted, it was characteristic of the juicy, grapefruit-forward IPAs that were rising in popularity at the time. Relative to today's trendy IPAs, this one could almost be considered old-school. But it drinks as fresh as ever; a finely crafted and lively brew.

Like Barley Mow itself, Quackalope isn't going anywhere, it's just moving a few blocks down the road. The original tasting room is an important part of our local brewing history, though, so swing by before March 31 to grab a fresh one, and then check out the new Barley Mow Brewpub at 2535 East Bay Drive after April 2 to see how it's adjusting to a new home.

— Justin Grant

Have a suggestion for the Local Craft Beer of the Week? Brewers, have a limited release coming that we should know about? Email jg@saintbeat.com.