Gardina’s Beer Bar No. 10: A Firkin of El Dorado Smash IPA

The tenth edition of Gardina’s Beer Bar Series is set to flow tonight (Tuesday, May 20) at 6 p.m. with a firkin tapping of O’so Brewing’s El Dorado SMASH IPA.

A SMASH beer is made from a single malt and a single hop with the recipe typically designed to highlight the unique flavor of a specific hop varietal.

In this case, the hop is El Dorado, a hard-to-come-by hop that’s grown on just a single farm in Washington’s Yakima Valley. El Dorado is known for it’s fruit-like flavors. It’s often described as having notes of watermelon, tropical fruit and pear. Some say it tastes like watermelon lifesavers. Hmmm...

Now, O’so being O’so, they went ahead and unSMASHed their SMASH beer by dry hopping it with a second hop, centennial. This is an aroma hop with a clean, lemony scent. That ought to work well with the El Dorado. You can decide that for yourself tonight at Gardina’s.