Belt’s Beer Garden: An Officer and Gentlemen

If you head 20 minutes east of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania you’ll find Braddock, a small town of 2,000 people that is home to Brew Gentlemen. Located in a former electrical supply warehouse, the brewery sits in the shadow of Edgar Thomson Works - the first Bessemer steel plant Andrew Carnegie ever built.

You rarely see their beers outside of Pennsylvania, so if you do find one (as I was able to) grab it. However, if you live in the Keystone State, they do offer shipping statewide.

While the brewery has 15 taps, there is a single beer that stands out. They are most known for their flagship beer - General Braddock’s - an American IPA that features a solid 6.8% ABV. The beer (along with the town the brewery is located in) was named after the real-life Edward Braddock, a British Major General that fought, and was killed, in the French and Indian War. A young George Washington would even serve as a volunteer officer during his expedition. Four 12-ounce cans cost $11 if you buy from the brewery, so it’s certainly an affordable option.

The beer poured a bright, but murky, golden orange color with quite the sizable amount of head building up. Over two fingers of fluffy, eggshell white foam topped the brew and slowly faded down into a small accumulation around the edge of the glass. Despite how dense the bubbles were, it only laced the glass lightly, with an occasional strand of foam clinging to the glass.

On the nose, General Braddock’s was soft and tropical with some dank hoppy notes appearing as well. It was dripping with notes of ripe mango and passion fruit as well as a bit of honeydew, tangerine, and other light citrus notes. Underneath the fruit there was a bit of earthy pine and some grass as well. But it was quite an inviting and delicious smelling brew.

My first sip began with a super creamy mouthfeel and just a touch of carbonation fizzling across my tongue.

The pillowy soft texture to this brew delayed the flavors from appearing for a moment or two but, slowly, they began to crawl forward. It started with a wave of mango and passion fruit along with a light hop tingle. Joining those initial fruits was a light melon characteristic and a dash of orange and lemon.

Midway through, the hops add a slight resinous feeling with some oily grapefruit and the tiniest grassy characteristic. However, the tropical fruit flavors always remained in control of the sip; leading the way from start to finish.

General Braddock’s ends slightly dry, with that resin clinging to my tongue and a light grapefruit pithiness lingering on for a moment or two before fading away.

If you can find this beer, do it. I have already started the search for more myself because four cans was not nearly enough. If I could, I would hook kegs of this beer into my house’s water supply just so I could shower in this delicious IPA.

It was simply delicious.

There’s no other words needed.