The Hemperor HPA
New Belgium Brewing Company

I was excited to try this beer when it first came out. I tried it and found it to be good and flavorful. A little different than a standard IPA but still tasty. I'm surprised more brewers haven't tried this type of beer.

Amber color. Medium-sized, off-white head. Malt, hops, and hemp notes in the aroma. Moderately bitter in taste. Light hemp flavor is present all the time.

Grunt fill from WinCo. I can see where this would be a love it or hate it kind of beer. Pours out a hazy dark golden, small silky head, little bits of lacing. Big whopping fat hempy, weed aroma. Taste just comes in a little bit funky, dank bitterness, some malts, doesn't follow up to the big aroma. A little bit of bitterness lingers on and some more of the funky dank taste lingers on the tongue. Definitely not for the newbs, this is a pretty robust, pungent beer.

12oz bottle into a tasting glass.
L: Cloudy lite amber.
S: A big fat roach of cartel weed with black seeds. Funky. It stinks up a small room.
T: Caramel, dank hops, pine and B grade pot. Drinkable earthy and funky. Good. Hemp taste is there, probably hoppy, sweet, smooth, oily. Hemp seed oil. Hops lie on the tongue like an alligator in the sun. Long resinous grassy hemp taste. It is sweet and a bit cloying.
F: Med-heavy mouthfeel with a moderately dry finish.
O: Very full flavored IPA. Extra heavy on the hemp for sure. It's was good in it's style.

 

 

Pours a super cloudy amber/gold with little to no head. Smells of pine, earth, some floral notes & of course... dank like some green. Taste certainly follows the nose, the hop bite & malts are pretty much perfectly balanced. Medium-bodied with a crisp finish to it. This beer is interesting to say at the least, straight up smells like you opened up your weed jar when you crack one of these open. It is nonetheless refreshing, I will be buying more of these in the future.

 

 

 

 

Wanted to try this one for a while, and it actually didn't disappoint (I was pretty skeptical about it).

Look: Probably the weakest aspect, as it doesn't look particularly appetizing. Kind of a muddy light brown, translucent, with off-white head. Lacing is present, but many, it just doesn't look like an IPA should. On the other hand, I'm sure this is sort of a sacrifice to make the smell and taste of the beer the way it is, so no hard feelings towards it.

Smell: There isn't anything to say other than "it smells like weed." It smells like someone just opened up their grinder! I was actually very surprised at how forward the smell is, and had expected it to be somewhat vague. But if you know and love the smell of weed, this will trigger that happy chemical in your brain.

Taste: Fortunately, it doesn't actually taste like cannabis too much. This was something else I was skeptical of; weed doesn't taste good, so why make a beer that tastes like it? Well simply put, it doesn't. It's mostly malt and hops (though a bit too malt forward for an IPA in my opinion), with a slight aftertaste of bud. Kinda like eating a really well made edible where the cannabis taste is just barely present at the end.

Feel: Kinda thick and syrupy, which isn't really desirable for the style, but again, I'd guess this has to do with the process of making the beer smell so much like weed.

Overall: A really unique beer that I think helps to demonstrate all the different things beer can be. I'm not sure if I'd buy it very often for myself, but it's a beer I'd love to drink with a group of friends and show them how cool it is.

 

The help smacks in the face both with the smell and taste, a little overwhelming.

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass.
Appears orangish, with a nice foamy white head that lasted.
It's 4/19/2020 so a little hemp warm-up for tomorrow.
Smells initially dank, grassy, floral
Taste a little dank, hemp not at all overpowering, hoppy bitterness that I like.
Mouth feel is medium for an IPA.
Overall pretty tasty and I would definitely order again.

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle.
Pours a nice clear orange-gold with a tight white head.
Smells of hops and hemp. Very much hemp.
Tastes of hops and has a subtle malty sweetness.
Light bodied and refreshing. A good warm weather beer
Overall, i liked it. I will buy again.