Beer of the Week: Clown Shoes "Hoppy Feet" Black IPA

By Karl Klockars in Food on Feb 25, 2011 10:35PM

The Black IPA is the hip, happening new thing when it comes to brewing styles, Massachussetts' Clown Shoes Brewery is the "new kid in town" of Chicago beer distribution and I'm the new guy (sorta) when it comes to Beers of the Week. Thusly, I thought we'd be best served by spending some of our weekend with "Hoppy Feet," the new black IPA from Clown Shoes.

Offerings from the Ipswich, MA brewer have only been in Chicago for a few weeks. We grabbed this bomber at Binnys for a respectable $6-and-change and it boasts grapefruit and pine in the hops profile with a nice malty, roasted chocolate backbone while not packing too much of a punch at only 7% ABV.

Hoppy Feet pours a nice deep nut brown with a light tan pillowy head, and they're right - it's hops all the way down. The grapefruit/pine mix they mention is present at the start, then backs off somewhat to a maltier, roasted flavor, and just when you think it's done for, wham - a big punch of pure bitter hops right at the end that lingers for minutes at a time. Not a beer for the IBU-averse, but that's what you get (and should expect) from a beer that proudly proclaims it was bottled just weeks ago.

For a beer style that can be equal parts pine-y springtime and porter-y darkness, it's appropriate that this beer finds a place in my fridge as we enter the part of year where nature can't make up its damn-fool mind. Clown Shoes' "Hoppy Feet" Black IPA is Chicagoist's Beer of the Week.

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