Every Monday, we feature a new Montana microbrew review. Enjoy.

Red Lodge Ales Brewing Company in Red Lodge, MT

I’ve drank my fair share of Red Lodge Ales Bent Nail IPA on tap down at the Red Atlas in Helena, and I’ve always found it to be refeshing and while maybe not the best IPA, a very delicious one. So, naturally when I saw some of the new and improved Broken Nail Double IPA in 22 oz bottles up at the B&B Quality Market on South Rodney, I decided to pick one up, even if the price tag was a bit heavy. I know Matt commented that he liked the name of the Bent Nail IPA, especially as it was made to appeal to contractors. For me, that name only became better when its grown up brother was given the handle Broken Nail, since it sounds just a little bit more extreme than the regular bent version.

The bottle of beer was definitely fresh as the Broken Nail is a recent addition to the Red Lodge lineup. The bottle poured a filtered bronzed honeycomb color and gave off a strong aroma of canned pineapple, with a bit of earthy hints to the nose. The odor was pretty intimidating, and I feared it would taste solely of canned pineapple, and truth be told I prefer fresh pineapple. I was a little surprised to discover much more going on in the elixir. It was creamy and incredibly smooth, with a bitter booze taste up front that turned into a hoppy pineapple citrus. The Broken Nail had a big hop finish with lots of earthy tones, sort of like eating some mud made with dirt and pineapple juice, but in a good way. I mean, who didn’t eat a bit of dirt as a kid?

I’m not sure if Red Lodge is going to make this a standard fare, or if they are only going to be brewing it a few times a year. If it is a rarity, I would say people should be out getting one of the shelves so they can at least try it, especially if you are into bigger, fruitier sorts of IPAs. If they will be releasing it consistently, I think it loses a bit of its attractiveness. Twenty two ounces of this ale is enough for two people as far as I’m concerned, and I couldn’t see myself drinking more than a pint or two of this a week at the taproom.