This Week On Tap: Flat12's Half Cycle IPA

13 Oct This Week On Tap: Flat12’s Half Cycle IPA

Posted at 18:45h in Flat 12 Bierwerks, Musings, This Week On Tap, Uncategorized by Justin Knepp 0 Comments

By Writing & Reporting Community Member Charlie Sasse

To me being a hop head is not about balance between the hops and malt, it’s about how many IBUs I can taste up front and how much bitterness is on the back end without having the “burned” flavor some IPAs have. I understand some of the biggest hop heads like that balance, but not me! I also understand the need for malt and what it brings to the table, I just don’t want too much of it. Flat12 Bierwerks’ Half Cycle is one of my favorite IPAs and one I’ll buy anytime I’m traveling to hangout with other craft beer nerds in regions where Flat 12 is not distributed. It is always welcome regardless if the people have tasted it before or not.

Being aware of the recent issue regarding Flat 12’s carry out offerings I’ve talked with a few people in the brewery about it. I also looked at the ratings on BeerAdvocate during this time and saw how the ratings had taken a hit due to the issue. I’m friends, or at least friendly, with a few of the people in the brewery and, as stated above, I have talked with them about this on a couple of occasions. While I may not be completely clear on how the issue was resolved, it does appear it’s been fixed and operations are back to normal. This makes me happy because I enjoy this beer quite a bit and it is readily available.

For this article I was able to get fresh Half Cycle from the brewery. The grapefruit, pine, and sticky sweet aromas that came out of this beer were wonderful! There is little to no malt aroma but that’s just fine with me. The look of this IPA is golden orange and a nice half inch of white head leaves nice lacing behind the rim of a tulip glass. The flavor is similar to the nose in that it includes grapefruit, pine, and a resiny sweetness. After all of that comes the alpha acid bitterness that lingers in the mouth for quite some time. While some may not care for this, personally I love it.

These flavors went well with the lighter body and slight creaminess of Half Cycle. The carbonation is just about perfect for this beer. For me, this is an all season/any time beer. Half Cycle is great in the middle of summer on a hot august day playing softball, during a January blizzard watching my dogs play in the snow, in spring sitting on my deck playing cards, or a fall day tailgating before the Colts game with friends while eating cheese dip!

When asked to help out while the normal authors were unavailable, I was given free reign to pick any beer I wanted. I chose to go local and initially struggled to pick a single beer to review. The Saucy Intruder from Black Acre, Strudel Cake from Deviate, Taxman’s Quad, or any of a number of other beers could have been my choice. I chose to go old school and pick one of my favorite beers since Flat 12 opened in 2010. Every time I drink a Half Cycle it reminds me of why I am a hop head and why I love IPAs.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter at @TheBeerReverend