Epic & Telluride Team Up for Blizzard Conditions New England-Style IPA

an open mind. When all of these elements come together you have

the conditions for a perfect storm or in our case, a blizzard. We’ve

teamed up with our good friends at Telluride to bring you “Blizzard

Conditions”: a New England-Style IPA featuring Cashmere hops and

enough haze to create a delicious little snow globe-in-glass.

While enjoying pints together this winter Telluride’s brewmaster

Chris Fish and Epic’s Kevin Crompton discovered neither of them had brewed a New England-Style IPA before and

both were intrigued by the new hopping techniques many breweries were using to pack insane amounts of juicy

hop flavor into the beer without a high level of bitterness.

Approaching the new style together, both brewmasters set out to find just

the right hops. “The excitement is all about juicy hop goodness! Not

bitterness!” says Chris Fish. “We’re looking to present super tropical

fruitiness in both flavor and aroma. To achieve that we got our hands on a

new hop variety, Cashmere.”

Cashmere hops are relative new on the market, having been released in

2013 by Washington State University, and is the product of a marriage

between Cascade and Northern Brewer hops. Their resulting daughter,

Cashmere, is unique, producing aromas full of lemon and lime citrus, sweet ripe-cantaloupe, and tropical fruits

like guava and mango. Because of these qualities Cashmere excels as a cold-side dry hop and is perfectly suited

for New England-Style IPAs, which pull as much hop character as possible from late boil additions and dry-hopping.

“IBUs are a thing of the past,” says Epic Brewmaster, Kevin Crompton. “These IPA’s are about the myriad of hop

flavors we can infuse in the brew. So much of those delicate compounds are lost in the steam of the boil – we’re

doing as much as we can to avoid that and pack all of the

interesting parts of hops into the final beer.”

Blizzard Conditions is hazy gold color with just a hint of green

highlights. Its huge aroma is bursting with orange blossom, ripe

melon and guava. The spelt, a type of malted wheat, helps give

good body to the beer, which supports the sticky hop character.

Bitterness is low with just a moderate amount lingering on the

palate. If you’re a hop lover and enjoy the newer American

varieties emerging on the scene this beer won’t disappoint; and if

you’re the type of drinker who shies away from the traditional, piney IPA, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how

bright and juicy New England-Style IPAs can be.

Blizzard Conditions was brewed to be showcased during Denver’s Collaboration Fest on March 25th. Tickets are

available online at www.collaborationfest.com. The beer will also be tapped around Denver leading up to the fest.


3/22 – Epic Brewing Company Denver Tap Room 12 pm

3/22- West End Tavern Boulder 5-7 pm