TrimTab IPA — The Beer That Put Lakeview on the Craft Beer Map

The Review

TrimTab opened in 2013 with a philosophy borrowed from Buckminster Fuller — the trim tab is the tiny control surface that steers a massive ship, proof that small things create big change — and they launched with an IPA that made the philosophy credible.

The TrimTab IPA is the flagship that built the brewery’s reputation. It pours a bright amber-gold with excellent clarity and a white head. The nose is assertive and hoppy — resinous pine, a touch of grapefruit, some floral character underneath. On the palate it’s firm and well-structured: a solid malt backbone supports a bitterness that’s present without being aggressive, finishing dry and clean with good hop persistence.

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What sets it apart from the Birmingham IPA crowd isn’t any single element — it’s the consistency. TrimTab’s IPA tastes the same every time, which sounds like a low bar until you realize how many craft IPAs don’t clear it. When they started canning in October 2015, the can tasted like the draft. That matters.

The Lakeview taproom-slash-art-gallery is one of the best venues in the city, and the TrimTab IPA is the perfect beer to have in your hand while you look at local art and argue about whether craft beer is itself an art form. It is. This one proves it.

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