C-Hop Blend Pale Ale (Dry Hopped)
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Limpid amber that became bright yellow when backlit with the brewpub's sun-drenched side windows. The pastel lemon head towered above the top edge of the glass initially and never fell below one finger for the life of the pint. A ragged collar of lace was the extent of the lace display.

The nose was beautifully hoppy; no surprise since the hop bill was made up of some of my favorites: Cascade, Centennial and Chinook. As for specifics, it smelled like freshly grated lemons, grapefruits and oranges. A little more pungency and the next highest score would have been an easy call.

I expected the flavor to be similar to the single-hopped pale ales from this brewpub. And to some extent, it was. Something was different though... better. Maybe it was the combination of the three different hops, or maybe it was the fact that flavor and bitterness were slightly more intense than I remember for the other beers. In any case, I do believe this is Rock Bottom's finest dry-hopped pale ale yet. And I've had them all.

The beer was tantalizingly sweet, tangy and bitter as soon as it made contact with the taste buds. As the mouthful progressed, the malt sugars faded away, revealing an incredibly bright hoppiness that carried things to and through the finish. Again, these are three of my favorite hops (along with Columbus, Amarillo and Simcoe) and I'm thrilled to report that they were used with the utmost skill in this beer.

The mouthfeel was lighter than I would have liked, keeping in mind that I almost always want a bigger body on any given beer. It was soft, yet still serious, with a near perfect amount of cask-conditioned CO2. Drinkability was high, as evidenced by the fact that I found myself taking an extra gulp or two each time I upended the glass.

C-Hop Blend Pale Ale (long on information, short on lyricism) is a fantastic beer. Even though it shares scores with at least one other dry-hopped pale ale from this Rock Bottom, it's my clear favorite. If wdmrock continues to brew beer this good, I will continue to spend the lion's share of my time and money at Des Moines's best brewpub.