Beer Buzz: O'Fallon 5 Day IPA

It's hard not to like a beer brand when their slogan is, "We Love Beer." Simple and to the point, right? We must confess this is our first experience with a hop pop from the O'Fallon Brewery, which is based out of Maryland Heights, Missouri. In fact they don't even sell their beers here in Idaho; this 5 Day IPA was given to us as a gift from a co-worker at our real job, who happens to hail from the show me state.

At 6.10% ABV (alcohol by volume) this India pale ale is one of the smoothest we've had this year, with nice floral notes and decent hoppiness. At 55 IBUs (International Bitterness Units, A system of indicating the hop bitterness in finished beer. Source: Beer Advocate), this beer drinks more like a standard pale ale to me than an IPA. But that could just be our bad habit. We happen to tend towards the higher side of the IBU scale (read: hoppier) when drinking an IPA simply because they also tend to carry a higher ABV. We feel like by drinking a higher alcohol level beer we're getting more bang for the buck, sort of like a two-hour plus movie compared to a 90 minute one. Or maybe it's the northwest influence, as this is the hop region in the united States.

Here is O'Fallon's description of the Five Day IPA, in it's own words:

We dry-hop this American Style India Pale Ale with seven grains and four domestic hop varieties by adding dry whole hops to the finishing tank so the beer rests “on top” of the hops for five extra days! Malty sweetness up front with big cascade and glacier hops in the finish — a wonderfully drinkable IPA!

We would have to agree this is one wonderfully drinkable IPA. O'Fallon's 5 Day IPA has made us look at things a little different. That we really can enjoy an IPA without the sucker punch in the face that comes along with a higher IBU, hoppier pucker pop. An IPA can be smooth and still be enjoyable.

Buzz: This is one smooth, drinkable IPA that flows down the gullet easier than water off of a global-warming-induced Greenland glacier. 

Buzzkill: Our only complaint is that they don't sell this beer in Idaho yet. Looks like we'll be begging our local beer store to look into this one.

More information: 
O'Fallon Brewery
45 Progress Pkwy
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Phone: 636.474.2337
www.ofallonbrewery.com