Got some interesting news from our friends over at Fordham today, they will be releasing their first ever IPA. It’s been a while since they have added to their stable of year round beers, this will be the first in six years.
Rams Head IPA is an aggressively hopped, West Coast style India Pale Ale. Asserting its dominance with 75 IBUs and 7.5% ABV, this beer contains pale, munich and rye malts, as well as Bravo, Chinook and Motueka hops. Rams Head IPA represents a departure from Fordham’s characteristic sessionability, challenging drinkers to “Defy the ordinary. Take life by the horns.”
If you aren’t familiar with the history of the brand, here is how it came to be:
The Fordham Brewing Co. launched in the downtown Annapolis Rams Head in 1995, mere blocks from where Benjamin Fordham first brewed. After experiencing a 54% growth increase in 2002, the company made the decision to expand the scope of operations and separate from the restaurant, moving from Annapolis to a brand new facility in Dover, Delaware. When given the option to purchase the Old Dominion Brewery from Jerry Bailey in 2007, the brewery jumped at the chance to do something that no one else had done: merge two craft breweries while maintaining their separate identities. The leadership made the decision to take on the demands of a two-brand company, because it was out of the ordinary and because it challenged expectations.
President and CEO of Fordham & Dominion Brewing, Jim Lutz, stated, “We have recently been coming to terms with who we are as a company. Rams Head IPA has given us the opportunity to embrace our past, while telling the craft beer world who we are: two brands, one company. We are the Fordham & Dominion Brewing Co. and we are defying the ordinary.”
