Ridgeway Brewing in England
After drinking this beer, and the other half dozen we had from Ridgeway during the beers of Christmas (they make all the Bad Elf Beers) I decided to do a little looking into them. Surprisingly they have only been open for about eight years, and in that time have gotten great distribution. I’m not sure what it is like in England, but you find Ridgeway brews in almost any . beer shop in the states. Their beers are imported by the Shelton Brothers who surely have a lot to do with their ubiquity around the US. They also have some interesting history behind their name.
The Ridgeway Brewery is named for the ancient road – passable now only on foot – that meanders along a low escarpment across the high, rolling pastoral plain that is the southwest of England. The now patchy stone surface of the Ridgeway was laid by Britain’s oldest inhabitants – Druids and the like – thousands of years before the Romans turned up to build their own roadways. It is the oldest road in the British Isles and Europe, running nearly 100 miles, past that other ancient landmark, Stonehenge.
Smuttynose Brewing Company in Portsmouth, NH
This will be a short one guys, but for all you Blackfoot Single Malt IPA lovers out there (and a know there a lot of you) as well as you guys who have to fill a growler or two to get through the holidays, today the guys at the Blackfoot River Brewery will be open at noon! and they will have cask conditioned IPA on tap! Its a Christmas Eve miracle!
Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe, Arizona
Overall, I found the Hop Knot IPA to be a good IPA with some different characteristics than I’m used to here in Montana. The citrus nature of it was a little overwhelming at first, but after a few sips, I became accustomed to it and found the rest of the growler to be refreshing and well balanced. I’m not sure if Four Peaks bottles this brew or not, but I’m excited for my next trip to Arizona, so I can experience some of their Hop Knot from the tap.
Victory Brewing Company in Downington, Pennsylvania
The Hop Devil IPA is a must for hop heads around the nation, and perhaps would be appropriate to run through a 
High points to Red Lodge Ales for using an ingredient that deviated from Montana’s normal crop batches.
of refreshing celery and a subtle hint of orange. The celery was something I wasn’t expecting, and not being such a fan of celery in general, this maybe wasn’t the most inviting beer in the world. However, the smell was uniquely crisp and fit the end of a hot and muggy day well. As for being an extra IPA, the initial blast of hops was kicked back to the endnotes, where said hops lingered for quite some time and were almost chewy. An earthy and woodsy quality of the beer was also quite prominent and coupled well with the lingering hop notes. This one certainly stuck around for a bit, but I expected a more rounded feeling of hops out of this guy.
Bear
A gold star to Bear Republic for producing the Racer FIve IPA. My only qualm with the Racer Five is it is available only in 22 oz bottles and I would love to see six packs of it on the shelf. Not only do I know I will purchase the Racer Five again, but I also intent to check out some other brews from Bear Republic Brewing.
