Tap Handle #324: Mother Road - Lost Highway Imperial Black IPA

This is a gorgeous tap that reminds me a little bit of the Pete's Wicked tap due to the silver-colored woman figure and the art deco styling. It's very rare. The brewery refers to the tap as "Ellie", although I'm not sure why. All varieties appear the same except for the label.

Mother Road brewing was founded in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2011 by Michael and Alissa Marquess. They came up with a plan that brought together their passions of craft beer, travel, Arizona and the enjoyment of life, by creating a brewery. They leased the Milum Building, which is on an original portion of U.S. Highway 66. It was built by the Milum family in the 1920s and housed a commercial laundry, which they operated up until the late 1990s. The Mother Road was John Steinbeck’s name for U.S. Highway 66 in The Grapes of Wrath when it carried the Joad family west in the 1930s.  Their first two beers were a Kolsch-inspired Gold Road  and Twin Arrows, a brown ale. The brewery also contains a tap room and a tasting room. The company has purchased a small bottling machine and is expanding into the Phoenix and Tucson markets. They currently brew 4 year-round beers and also experiment with small, seasonal batches.

Lost Highway Imperial Black IPA is a robust imperial IPA that balances the malt characteristics with IPA bitterness and finishes with roast and coffee flavors from the Black Patent malt. This big, balanced beer drinks smoothly. It was a seasonal that was changed to a year-round brew due to customer demand. Recommended food pairings are spicy Mexican and Asian foods and rich desserts like tiramisu. Weighted average on ratebeer.com is 3.38 out of 5.

Mother Road Brewing Offical Website