As I bemoaned earlier, this year’s GABF was woefully short of election themed beers. And by woefully short, I mean one. Yup—one single solitary beer named after Trump. That’s zero Hillary beers, zero election beers, zero Republican beers, zero Democrat beer—nothing. Somewhere P.T. Barnum is figuring out how to get into the beer business to take advantage of the missed marketing opportunity.
The guys at Golden, Colorado’s Cannonball Creek Brewing, though, single-handedly saved the day! (sorry about the bad pun—couldn’t resist…) Their Trump Hands session IPA turned out to be a godsend. As you might imagine, getting the scoop on Trump Hands was my primary mission on Thursday night (after the obligatory Russian River stop).
Now, remember that Thursday was before the Trump videotape exploded onto the scene. That means Thursday night, Trump Hands was just a clever beer that was the natural result of watching Trump tout his hand size during an early season debate. Trump Hands was the lowest alcohol beer Cannonball Creek had ever produced—a small beer in brewer jargon—so Trump Hands was a perfect name.
By Saturday, Trump Hands was still funny, but potentially a little creepy. The beer itself, though, isn’t—thankfully—very Trump. It’s neither orange, nor harsh; neither hairy, nor loud. Trump Hands is a very tasty session IPA. It’s light and smooth—as you would expect for a session IPA. It also has a fairly substantial hop flavor—giving you fruity and floral notes that balance well with the light malt flavors. All in all, Trump Hands is a very good session IPA. It came as no surprise to me that Cannonball Creek claimed the GABF Session IPA gold medal for Trump Hands. Perhaps they should think about sending the award to The Donald. It looks like he might need a consolation prize. He’s a good sport—I’m sure he’d love the joke…