One of my friends at work who knows that I am a proud, unapologetic hop-head, mentioned to me the other day that Hop Henge is coming out in January. I'd never heard of the beer before, so I frollicked over to Lee's shop that same day after work and picked up this bottle of supposedly super hoppy joy. At 9% ABV and 95 IBUs, it sounds like this is a big-time american IPA. According to their website, Deschutes loads up pounds of Cascade and Centennial, along with a big dose of dry-hopping per barrell.
This beer is going into my goblet - pours out a beautifully clear, very dark amber that I could almost call brown. About an inch of head forms without much lacing. The aromas are clearly dominated by pine, although there is also some citrus and a bit of resin fumes in there, not pungent but definitely fresh.
The beer tastes very much how I expected after smelling it - hop forward with the pine and grapefruit, but not intensely bitter. It's got a great balance, the malt profile has some muscle - light caramel malts, bready taste and biscuity texture. The flavors work very well together and the balance is complimented by the texture of the beer, being smooth (almost creamy) with carbonation on the lower end.
Overall Rating: (5.3 out of 6.0) I really enjoyed this beer - it was dangerously drinkable (look out for that 9%.....this one is a booze ninja!) and had a lot of well-balanced complexity. It doesn't fall into the 'hop your socks off' category, but the hop profile is full of flavor and it really hit the spot.
This beer is going into my goblet - pours out a beautifully clear, very dark amber that I could almost call brown. About an inch of head forms without much lacing. The aromas are clearly dominated by pine, although there is also some citrus and a bit of resin fumes in there, not pungent but definitely fresh.
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