Unsystematic Brewing - Poppin A Quat Kumquat IPA

About a year ago, I brewed my first beer- Tilda Swinton Pale Ale. I wouldn't say it turned out fantastic, but I absolutely loved the brewing process. However, due to living in a miniscule one bedroom apartment, the room that I needed to brew just wasn't there. Fast forward to January, when my girlfriend and I moved into a house. As soon as we had finished unpacking, it was time to plan out the next brew.


I've loved kumquats for a long time. I don't eat them very often, but I grew up gorging myself on kumquats from my grandmother's tree, so I've always had good memories. Over the past few years as I've schemed about the kind of beers I would brew once I had the space, a kumquat beer was always something I wanted to try. Now that I had the room to do it, I settled on a kumquat IPA and dug up a recipe online. After an overly long brewday (sorry again to my friends who showed up to what I promised would be a "quick and fun" brewday) and a five week wait while the beer fermented and conditioned, Poppin A Quat was ready.



Poppin A Quat Kumquat IPA pours a murky, dark golden color with a good amount of floaties lurking in the body. I didn't notice them so much right after the beer was conditioned, but after a few weeks, there seem to be a lot of them. A thin, off white head caps the beer off. I used an absolute boatload of kumquats in this beer (2.5 pounds near the end of the boil and 2.5 more pounds about a week into fermentation), and they came out pretty nicely in the smell. Upfront, you get some floral hops, mingling with a good amount of bright kumquat flesh, jasmine and candied citrus. There's just a hint of malt breadiness in the smell as well, but it's pretty faint.

While I love how much the kumquats came through in the aroma of this beer, the taste makes me think I may have overcooked the kumquat thing a bit. Kumquat zest and thick tangerine syrup open things up. Then comes some spicy kumquat zest and a hard hit of grapefruit pith. The finish is super dry and almost tannic with a lingering kumquat peel note. The bitterness from the kumquat zest definitely gets a touch off-putting after about half a pint. The mouthfeel is prickly and just a touch sticky from all of the citrus.

Overall, I'm calling Poppin A Quat a success. I probably wouldn't win any homebrewing competitions with this one, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Smell-wise, I couldn't be happier with the way this turned out. The taste is where it could use a bit of work. But, hey, that's what the following homebrews are for. And speaking of the next homebrew, I may just have another fermenting as we speak. More on that in a month or so...

Final Grade: ...yeah, I'm not gonna grade my own beer.

Top 250 Beers Taste: 135

The Bruery - Sour in the Rye with Kumquats

The kumquat is a pretty fantastic fruit. In fact, it might be one of my favorite fruits. My grandparents used to have a kumquat tree in their backyard that seemed to always be loaded with fruit. So at any given family event, it was a pretty sure bet that the tree was getting its load lightened significantly by my sisters and I.


Kumquats are awesome, but they're also pretty different. They're the only citrus that I can think of that you can eat without the hassle of having to deal with a peel. Just pick and scarf. They're also very seldom used in the kitchen, unlike a lot of other citrus out there. They're not the sweetest fruit,
but they are delicious (plus, if you get sick of eating them, they make great projectiles for when a nearby acquaintance (friend, sister, grandma, cat, etc.) isn't paying attention). So I was pretty excited when The Bruery announced that they were going to be bottling a version of their Sour in the Rye beer with kumquats. Let's check this bad boy out.

Sour in the Rye with Kumquats pours a murky copper color with a glowing orange core. A small head formed initially, but fizzed away into nothing pretty quickly. Looks-wise, this beer was a little disappointing, but any disappointment I may have felt went out the window the second I smelled it. The kumquat aroma coming off this beer is fantastic. It almost smells like someone grated a bunch of kumquat zest over my glass right before I took a sniff. There's also a spicy rye aroma that goes great with the natural zestiness of the kumquats. In the background, I picked up some faint lemon, oak, tangerine zest and vanilla. As far as beer smells go, this one is top notch.

The kumquats aren't featured quite as much in the flavor as they are in the aroma, but this beer still tastes amazing. It opens with a drawling lemon/lacto sour note across the palate with a touch of underripe green grapes in the background. The middle is smooth with a hint of grain and rye and gives you a quick respite from the sourness before the finish slams you with a hit of sour that's all kumquat. To me, the finish was less kumquat flesh than the skin and oil of the kumquat, which leaves a sort of spicy bitterness as the final note.

As far as sour beers go, this one is top notch. I didn't think Sour in the Rye could get any better, but the kumquats really take this beer to another level. I'm really glad The Bruery decided to bottle this one. Kind of bummed I only bought two bottles though.

Final Grade: A

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 129