Brewery – Land Grant
Beer – Goon
Style – Strong Pale Ale
ABV – 6.1%
IBUs – 65
Goon is an assertive Strong American Pale Ale that scoffs at fruity hop trends and brings a dank and piney aggression to the ice. With Magnum, Northern Brewer, Chinook, and Green Bullet hops in tow, Goon lives up to its reputation as a hard hitter. Drop your gloves and take a swig.
Land Grant uses their city of Columbus as inspiration for all that they do, including the sports that call the city home. The founders of the brewery are all hockey fans, and when the Columbus Blue Jackets started their quest to find a brewery to partner with for a beer, they knew they wanted to be that brewery.
After the first meeting, the organization was convinced that Land Grant would make the perfect match for them.
The name Goon arose naturally, during brainstorming sessions for the beer, as did its strong, and assertive style. The beer was tapped in the Land Grant taproom on October 9th 2015, to mark the opening night for the Blue Jackets season that year. Soon after it debuted in the arena, where between the two it lived for a while, gaining fans across the city quickly.
Hopped with Magnum, Northern Brewer, Chinook and Green Bullet – this was a beer designed for hop heads. Luckily for everyone, there were a lot of hop heads around town.
The popularity of the beer quickly outpaced its limited availability and it was soon moved into the production schedule – which is what brought it to my thirsty face.
My Thoughts On Land Grant Goon
The beer is coppery in color, with a white head that emanates aromas of dank pine.
They aren’t lying to you when they say that this beer “scoffs at the fruity hop trends”, this is a dank a full flavored hoppy pale ale that will please any hop head. Aromas are full of aggressive hop notes.
Flavors are much of the same – aggressive, pine, and danky, sticky hops dominate it all, but behind it is a caramelly sweet toasted malt flavor that fills your palate out nicely. It’s a beer that would pair well with a hockey game… which I suppose is exactly the point, isn’t it?