I like themed breweries for some reason. It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about. Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery. Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood. With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.
My stop here was literally just to try a beer and leave as we had plans and LPB was on the way. With 33 beers on tap, these guys like to brew. I had a hard time deciding what to try and ended up going with The Event Horizon, which is a Black IPA. Anyone who's ever read any of my brewery blogs knows my dislike for IPA's. It's not always the taste that I'm turned off by, but more so that the whole genre of beer is so overdone that no one knows where to begin with it. I'm in the minority of course, as they are popular as hell and they are easy to drink and are good in both warm and cold climates. I was still enamored with the Stout I had had the day before that anything dark was appealing to me. As far as IPA's go, I had no issue with it and thought it was good. It's made with a mix of hops, including Amarillo, El Dorado, Idaho 7 and Zamba, which I have never heard of.
Zamba hops is a proprietary selection from Brewer's Supply Group that is characterized by complex juicy tropical fruit flavors, like pineapple and tangerine. Complex is an appropriate word choice for a Black IPA. In fact, there is much debate among brewers that a Black IPA should be considered an IPA at all. It's called the oxymoron of beers and when you drink one you'll know why. The malty, bitterness is not there and if you were blindfolded you say it was a pale ale. Fruity, piney and still maybe a little creamy, but drinks easy. I don't know the IBU's on The Event Horizon, but probably around 50 would be a guess. So hoppy, but thrown by its black color.
LPB had a lot of beers one should try, including a dark Belgian called Gift of the Jedi and Lightyear, an oak aged IPA. They did have home crafted root beer, which my son had. One of the sayings there is, craft beer is their rocket fuel and I believe it. With a large selection of beers and a cool motif, Launch Pad is worth your time. I bought one of their t-shirts, so I'm in. Cheers!
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