Belt’s Beer Garden: Throne Away

Blood Orange IPA from Throne Brewing

Throne Brewing opened their doors in Glendale, Arizona back in March of 2018 and, just a mere two years later, opened up a second location in nearby Peoria, Arizona.

They offer a wide variety of styles but, as is the case with most breweries, their current taplist is hop-heavy with multiple IPAs at the moment. They are available throughout most of Arizona, mostly in the major population centers – so if you’re in metro Phoenix, Tucson, or Flagstaff you’ll be able to find them.

Today I got my hands on one of their hopped up beers – Blood Orange IPA. For this brew they took their Bell Road, a West Coast IPA, and added heaps and heaps of California-grown blood oranges to mix. A pack of four 16-ounce cans costs a very reasonable $11 and each pint has an ABV of 6.7%.

The beer poured a dark copper color with some orange hues and about a finger of off-white head building up. The bubbles quickly fizzled away, giving immediate access to the brew.

On the nose Blood Orange IPA had a sticky-sweet aroma that featured the hops, the malts, and the additives. The hops offered up some bitter and piney notes that were balanced nicely by the bready and biscuity malt profile. Those blood oranges added some pithy sweetness and a slightly juicy quality to the smell.

My first sip began with a small hop bite. The bitter twinge was rather soft though, as the juicy oranges quickly arrived and smothered my taste buds in a sticky orange avalanche. That orange flavor continued on for the vast majority of the sip.

Midway through the malts added some light breadiness that attempted to climb over the hops. However, the hops wouldn’t relinquish control and fought back with a low-level bitter hum that appeared towards the back end of the sip.

The blood orange characteristic once again popped up as everything was dying down and washed away that bitterness once again.

This brew does end a little sticky, from the oranges and hops, but otherwise, it’s a very clean finish. I was not expecting the flavors to just die out as they did…however, I was very happy with how it ended and allowed me to go straight for another swig.

After pouring this one and smelling it, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it…thought the malt profile would be too involved and that it would be stickier and have more of a pithiness to it. However, I must say, this beer drinks really nicely and is actually quite crushable and tasty.

Sure, it has a few spikes of bitterness and a small resinous feeling to it but, outside of that, it’s a really well made West Coast IPA. And, with the cost being as reasonable as it is, this one is certainly worth trying if you’re ever in Arizona.