Mound Builder IPA - People's Brewing Company

    Mound Builder IPA is an India Pale Ale brewed by People's Brewing Company in Lafayette, Indiana. The beer is named after a few groups of Native Americans located in the Illinois, Indiana, Ohio area who in Pre-Columbian times would build gigantic mounds of earth for religious and other important purposes.

    The beer pours a clear, dark amber color with a nice two-finger, off-white head. The foam slowly subsides and forms a thin ring around the inside of the glass.

    Mound Builder smells mainly of hops. The expected grapefruit bitter scent as well as a nice, earthy pine resin scent are both highly featured by the beer. There is also a nice caramel-sweet scent backing up the hops.

    People's IPA is medium bodied and features a high level of carbonation. There is a slight slickness to the beer that sticks around after swallowing. There is also a bit of a warming feeling from the beer as you hold it in your mouth. The beer has an alcohol content of 6.5% ABV.

It is said that the great serpent mound will not rest
until it finds a good Midwest IPA.

    Mound Builder IPA hits hard with hoppy bitterness. The caramel sweetness keeps the bitterness at bay for a short time, but it comes back with a vengeance in the form of an extremely acrid aftertaste. This bitterness is so strong that it actually causes your mouth to burn slightly. If People's could have kept the balance found in the first few seconds of Mound Builder's flavor, this would have been a much more enjoyable beer experience.

    People's Brewing Company is located just a few miles from where I live. As such, I have visited the brewery a few times. On one visit to the brewery I noticed that they had Mound Builder IPA on their Nitrogen tap. I had tried Mound Builder from bottles and normal taps a few times and didn't like it much due to its extreme bitterness. I knew I needed to try it on Nitro just to say I had. Honestly, this beer changes completely when it is poured on Nitro. Nitrogen taps are known to reduce bitterness and to pour a smoother, less bubbly beer. Once the extreme bitterness is gone, Mound Builder is much more enjoyable.

    I generally only choose to drink Mound Builder when there aren't other, better, local IPAs wherever I am drinking. When on Nitro however, I can actually recommend that you give the beer a try. Just know that you'll likely only find the Nitro version of the beer within a small radius of Lafayette, Indiana.

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