Hop Madness
Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery & General Store

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at the brewpub today.

Pouring a mildly hazy amber with a dense off-white head with excellent retention and nice lacing, this is a good looking DIPA. The nose is great. Plenty of aggressive hop bitterness with pine and candied grapefruit. There's also a mildly herbal hop character, with some mint present. A moderate caramel character is present, but on the nose, it isn't too aggressive. All told, a good DIPA.
The palate opens with a bitterness that makes me smile. While not as resiny or as dank as the best, this is still a very pleasingly bitter beer with aggressive pine and some unripe citrus/citrus rind. The malt character is moderate, with a mild sweetness that tempers the bitterness, and there's also some mint as well as a green, leafy, chlorophyll-like flavor. Bitter on the finish with a mild sweetness, this beer is medium in body with moderate carbonation. Quite enjoyable, my pint went down *real* easy over lunch.

I may be wrong but it appeared that the name was a play on "March Madness", from the brewer: "A double IPA loaded with juicy hop bitterness that will make you go crazy. Though some claim drinking it will keep you sane, you decide."

Beer is brown and hazy, off white head forms of small and medium bubbles. Good lacing, moderate carbonation.

Smells like hops, actually smells a lot like cascade hops in the nose. There is also some malt. Smells fine.

I truly regard myself as an IPA expert, I've reviewed over 100 IPAs and I am confident in telling you, this is insanely bitter. Its high, chewy bitterness in the back. This has to be greater than 90 IBU. Medium body, some carbonation on the palate. I don't taste the alcohol but I think the avalanche of hops in the back could be interfering with any subtlety this beer may have. Overall, the beer finishes a bit dry and gets heavy as you drink it.

I feel the most successful hop bomb IPAs are lighter in body but bigger in hops. I don't mind the slight dry finish but dry hopping with a more floral hop like amarillo or Nelson, or Citra (yes please Citra) would improve the overall experience of it. I would need to have it again (but it appears to be gone) to better understand where the color was coming from and why it was there. What would be wrong with a slightly dry, yellow to orange, clear DIPA at 8.0% 100 IBU dry hopped with citra or amarillo hops? I believe it would be superior.