Until the Time Is Right
Foam Brewers in Burlington, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Flavoured Rotating|
Score
6.97
|
|
Conditioned on Locally Grown Reaper Peppers
Some beers are brewed from recipes. Others are brewed from memories.
Nick Varisano spent years on the West Coast during the early craft beer rise, and we found ourselves reminiscing about a classic San Diego IPA and its variants that inspired countless brewers and drinkers alike. We didn’t want to recreate it. We wanted to ask what that beer might look like if it were brewed today, with Foam’s sensibilities and the incredible ingredients grown here in the Northeast.
The result is an East-meets-West IPA that pays tribute to a classic era while embracing a more modern approach to balance and drinkability.
A base of Valley Malt Pils and Stone Path Nor’East malts creates a bright orange foundation, while layered additions of Whitefield Hop Yard Centennial, Champlain Valley Hops Cascade, and Hopsteiner Cascade Salvo build bright, expressive notes of grapefruit zest, orange peel, and classic “C-hop” character. Dry hopping twice with Cascade, Simcoe, and Citra adds depth and vibrancy without losing the beer’s clean, focused identity.
Then came Nick’s reapers.
If you’ve visited Foam, you’ve probably seen his hot sauce made with peppers from his garden. We wanted to borrow not just their heat, but their complexity. Rather than brewing an extreme “pepper beer,” we conditioned the finished IPA on whole dried reaper peppers to coax out their earthy, subtly sweet character and just enough gentle warmth to complement the hops.
The goal was never to make your mouth burn.
The goal was to create that moment after the swallow where the citrus lingers, a quiet warmth begins to build, and your hand instinctively reaches for another sip.
Like a well-balanced dish, every element supports the next. Grapefruit character shines from the hops. The hops lift the pepper. The pepper deepens the finish. No single ingredient steals the spotlight.
Whether you’re a hop head, a chile enthusiast, or simply someone looking for a layered, endlessly drinkable summer IPA, we think you’ll find something to love here.
Tasting Notes: Grapefruit Zest , Orange Peel, Subtle & Building Warmth
Some beers are brewed from recipes. Others are brewed from memories.
Nick Varisano spent years on the West Coast during the early craft beer rise, and we found ourselves reminiscing about a classic San Diego IPA and its variants that inspired countless brewers and drinkers alike. We didn’t want to recreate it. We wanted to ask what that beer might look like if it were brewed today, with Foam’s sensibilities and the incredible ingredients grown here in the Northeast.
The result is an East-meets-West IPA that pays tribute to a classic era while embracing a more modern approach to balance and drinkability.
A base of Valley Malt Pils and Stone Path Nor’East malts creates a bright orange foundation, while layered additions of Whitefield Hop Yard Centennial, Champlain Valley Hops Cascade, and Hopsteiner Cascade Salvo build bright, expressive notes of grapefruit zest, orange peel, and classic “C-hop” character. Dry hopping twice with Cascade, Simcoe, and Citra adds depth and vibrancy without losing the beer’s clean, focused identity.
Then came Nick’s reapers.
If you’ve visited Foam, you’ve probably seen his hot sauce made with peppers from his garden. We wanted to borrow not just their heat, but their complexity. Rather than brewing an extreme “pepper beer,” we conditioned the finished IPA on whole dried reaper peppers to coax out their earthy, subtly sweet character and just enough gentle warmth to complement the hops.
The goal was never to make your mouth burn.
The goal was to create that moment after the swallow where the citrus lingers, a quiet warmth begins to build, and your hand instinctively reaches for another sip.
Like a well-balanced dish, every element supports the next. Grapefruit character shines from the hops. The hops lift the pepper. The pepper deepens the finish. No single ingredient steals the spotlight.
Whether you’re a hop head, a chile enthusiast, or simply someone looking for a layered, endlessly drinkable summer IPA, we think you’ll find something to love here.
Tasting Notes: Grapefruit Zest , Orange Peel, Subtle & Building Warmth
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7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 8
On tap at Foam Brewers today.
Poured into a tulip.
Appearance: glossy burnt yellow/orange haziness with a half a finger's worth of white foamy head which dissipated nicely to leave some light messy lace
Aroma: grapefruit zest, orange peel-ish sweet to bitter with a whiff of pine and a touch of lemon super far down in there
Flavor: combines the prior noted aromas to a sweet to zest quality initially then a rising balancing bitterness slides in underneath; finishes sweet and zesty with a little bit of dryness
Texture: medium bodied - maybe a touch under; between being sessionable and being a sipper; light on the smoothness factor with some dryness hitting the tongue; good low-ish carb and low to medium hop bitterness assertiveness
Overall: pretty good NEIPA - a bit different than some others, I would return to this.
Poured into a tulip.
Appearance: glossy burnt yellow/orange haziness with a half a finger's worth of white foamy head which dissipated nicely to leave some light messy lace
Aroma: grapefruit zest, orange peel-ish sweet to bitter with a whiff of pine and a touch of lemon super far down in there
Flavor: combines the prior noted aromas to a sweet to zest quality initially then a rising balancing bitterness slides in underneath; finishes sweet and zesty with a little bit of dryness
Texture: medium bodied - maybe a touch under; between being sessionable and being a sipper; light on the smoothness factor with some dryness hitting the tongue; good low-ish carb and low to medium hop bitterness assertiveness
Overall: pretty good NEIPA - a bit different than some others, I would return to this.
Tried
from Draft
at
Foam Brewers
on 13 Jul 2026
at 17:10