Robin Shepard
Assertive West Coast IPAs still have their place, despite the growing popularity of the juicy tropical New England IPAs. Door County Brewing of Baileys Harbor is adding WORS IPA to its list of year-round offerings and it just started appearing on Madison store shelves.
What is it? WORS from Door County Brewing Company of Baileys Harbor.
Style: India Pale Ales (IPAs) are medium-bodied, golden- to copper-colored beers that emphasize hops. Depending on the intent of the brewer and the variety of hops used, these beers can have herbal, piney, citrus or other tropical fruit accents, or some combination thereof. The American West Coast IPA tends to focus on grapefruit/citrus and pine/resin bitterness that falls between 50-70 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) with a strength of 6.3 - 7.5 percent ABV. (By contrast, New England IPAs are hazy beers with juicy tropical notes and slightly lower bitterness and alcohol strength.)
Background: Door County Brewing hasn’t added a new beer to its lineup in over a year. In part that’s because Door County Brewing has been focusing on establishing new brands under the Hacienda Beer label it launched in 2017.
WORS was introduced in the brewery’s taproom about six months ago as a draft-only beer. Just a couple of weeks ago it made its way into the Madison market, in 12-ounce cans. Door County’s brewmaster, Danny McMahon, calls it a beer that “finishes drier, with balanced bitterness,” as opposed to a hazy New England IPA.
WORS has a bit of the old-school West Coast hoppiness with notes of grapefruit from Centennial, tangerine from Amarillo and light pine bitterness from a touch of Columbus hops. It finishes with an estimated 60 IBUs. There is also a very pleasant soft and bready background that comes from Munich and Vienna malts. That nice sweetness balances the assertive hop bill. The beer finishes at 6.5 percent ABV.
“West Coast IPAs have been around for a while and we wanted people to realize that not everything has to be made with juicy hops like Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy,” says McMahon. “Seems like all we’ve been doing lately, and all that everyone else has been doing too, are East Coast IPAs. The West Coast IPAs still sell great, we’ve just not been talking about them as much.”
The beer’s name is a tribute to the Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) for mountain bike racers. Door County Brewing is a regular sponsor of WORS events and its Baileys Harbor taproom is a well-known hangout for cyclists. “We have quite a connection with bicyclists,” says McMahon.
WORS is sold in the Madison area in six-packs of cans for around $11.
Door County has also just released another new year-round beer called Blank Range, a hop-forward American wheat. McMahon has plans for up to three more new beers from Door County Brewing later this year, hinting there will be a helles lager for summer, a brown ale for fall and a third that he’s keeping secret for now.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Notes of grapefruit and pine.
- Appearance: Clear bright and yellow-golden, with a thick soft, light-tan head.
- Texture: Medium-bodied, bubbly, with some softness.
- Taste: Light hints of grapefruit bitterness upfront. A modest amount of piney bitterness is in the background. Assertive but not harsh.
- Finish/Aftertaste: Light lingering dry grapefruit hoppiness.
Glassware: The Willi Becher with its inward flare at the lip will focus the aromatic notes of grapefruit and pine.
Pairs well with: well-aged, sharp cheddar. There’s enough hoppiness to go well with foods that offer some spicy flavor and heat. A good pairing doesn’t have to be anything fancy; a pepperoni pizza is made for a beer like this.
The Verdict: WORS calls attention to the range of flavors that can be found in IPAs and pale ales. Here there is solid grapefruit and pine, but it’s not over the top in bitterness. I appreciate its assertiveness — yet it’s not palate-wrecking. Firm, dry citrus and resiny pine accents are complemented by a bready, malty background. And at 6.5 percent, having a second is not off the table. This beer has the flavor and balance that make it a delicious West Coast IPA.
