Belt’s Beer Garden: Pitch Perfect

This week, I have a Carolina beer that isn’t clowning around...it’s one of Hi-Wire’s IPAs, Lo-Pitch.

Hi-Wire Brewing is one of North Carolina’s fastest growing breweries. The circus-themed brewery, located in Asheville, has been a huge success since opening in 2013. They’ve already more than quadrupled their original brewing capacity, expanded to three locations, and was even named the best new brewery in North Carolina by Rate Beer after their inaugural year.

After reading about all their accolades, my expectations might have been raised some…

Today I have their Lo-Pitch, a “juicy IPA” made with Columbus, Equinox, Loral, and Simcoe hops and, according to their website, the objective of this brew was to “make the juiciest, most drinkable IPA possible with American hops.” And, checking in at just 4.9% ABV and with just 35 IBU, this IPA sounds like it’ll be very easy to drink. Six-packs of bottles are available year-round and will set you back the usual $10.

Lo-Pitch poured a bright straw color with minimal head. About half a finger of airy white foam ever showed up and, quite quickly, faded away into a mere dusting across the top.

Juicy was certainly the right adjective to describe the smell emitted by this brew. It was filled with sweet and fruity flavors such as mango, grapefruit, orange, lemon, and a hint of melon. The malts add more sweetness with a semi-bready scent and, underneath it all, there is a hint of a grassy hop undertone.

My first swig started with a very mild carbonation and a super light, almost watery mouthfeel. The flavors almost immediately began to swarm my tongue; with bright orange and other citrus taking control.

Behind the orange was a plethora of citrus that mostly included lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine. The malt, as it did in the aroma, snuck in some more sweetness by silently mixing in bready and caramel undertones that complimented the citrus incredibly well.

The citrus flavor dominated the sip from start to finish but, as the beer neared the end of the sip, underneath the fruit there was a flash of a grassy flavor before my tongue with coated with a sticky resinous feeling with a citrus essence.

Lo-Pitch ended insanely clean – the only lasting remnant being the sticky orange resin and a tiny bitter twinge that mostly shows up as the beer starts to get warmer and warmer…and even that bitter bite didn’t last too long.

Hi-Wire’s objective was creating the juiciest, most drinkable IPA…and, boy did they come close. Lo-Pitch was incredibly tasty, super easy to drink, and something I could go back to time and time again. My only complaint is that it’s only 4.9% alcohol…and that I don’t have another one of these beers cold. It’s delightful.