As people who grew up drinking the traditional American IPAs of the west coast, our taste buds were delighted to discover the New England style IPA in 2013. A friend who had recently traveled to Vermont brought back a well known IPA from the area. It was unlike any hoppy beer we had ever had. In fact, we were so inspired we visited the New England area a year later to take a deep dive into the IPA revolution that was taking place in that part of the country.
We tried as many different versions as we could get our hands on as we gained a deeper understanding of the new style. At the time, the old school IPA recipes dominated by crystal malts, piney hops and assertive bitterness were being rewritten by brewers on both coasts. On the East Coast, brewers preferred bigger and juicier hop flavor and aroma, less bitterness, producing beers with an opaque golden colored haze. We liked what they were doing.
We returned from that trip inspired to create our own version of a New England style IPA that could act as a perfect showcase for some of our favorite hops. We settled on the name “Counterculture” because, to us, the style of IPA represented a shift in the accepted norm of what was possible with hoppy beer. The early recipes changed as we found ways to coax out the perfect flavor profile but we’ve always used Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe hops in the base. Over time we tweaked our water profile, played around with different malts and different yeasts, and even moved the bitterness level up and down a bit until we felt it was close to perfect. In 2019 we added Galaxy hops to the mix and since then the recipe has been locked in.
Now when we brew Counterculture we enhance the base recipe by double dry hopping or even triple dry hopping with some of the hops in the base. This allows us to show off the best attributes of the great lots of hops we acquire. Because of the different dry hopping regiments each Counterculture variant has a different unique flavor profile, but it is generally citrusy, tropical and juicy.
You’ll often find a handful of NEIPAs on tap in our tasting room. We still love and brew clear west coast IPAs, but we have a deep love for the haze as well. We were honored and humbled to be listed alongside some of the most amazing IPA producers in the country when Thrillist named Counterculture one of the top 38 IPAs in America.
This fan favorite, on tap the day we opened and many times since, still remains the beer that we are most known for and that makes us happy. You keep enjoying it and we’ll keep brewing it.
