Spring Hornin' Spring IPA
Anderson Valley Brewing Company

This was poured into a nonic pint. The appearance was a hazy burnt orange golden color with a slim white head that immediately dissipated leaving barely any lacing. The smell had a decent amount of sweet blueberries intertwining with the bitter citrus hops. A light sweet pine enters and hangs nicely to balance it all out. The taste was moderately bitter with a decent sweet blueberry to accompany the flavor. It has a decent malt base. There’s a semi-dry sweet blueberry aftertaste leading to just a dry finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. The carbonation seemed appropriately styled and came across as an EIPA. Overall, I say this was a pretty good EIPA that I could have again.

 

 

Pours a deep golden/amber hue. Smells immediately of floral scents, flowers with a slight fruit scent like apple and pear. Tastes of Floral potpourri, a bit of pine and a slight bit of Apple/pear in the middle. Finishes dry with a bit of what tastes to me like honey tho I'm sure it's not there or possibly unintended and a peppery spice.

Appearance: Pours a clear polished dark golden color.

Overall: The aroma is reminiscent of green tea with honey. Tastes grassy and mildly sweet. The flavor is interesting with hops tasting herbal/floral and even a bit spicy. This beer is not a really bitter IPA. Very drinkable and surprisingly refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a bottle into pint glass in October 2015.

Appearance: Amber with white head. Head is thick, and sticks to the glass.

Smell: Strong aroma of hops, pine, and citrus, like grapefruits, with a little peppery spices as well. Overall the hops and citrus aromas dominate the others.

Taste: There is a strong hop flavor with hints of fruit flavor and a little pepper flavors as well. There is not much sweetness from the malts. The label lists pears and blueberry, there is a very minor hint of those flavors.

Mouthfeel: Medium, creamy bodied. Strong alcohol.

This is a strongly hopped IPA as pronounced by its name. It has a diverse mix of fruit, hops, and other flavors, which makes it interesting. Overall the hops and citrus flavors dominate the flavor.

Poured a clear amber body with abundant carbonation and one finger of bubbly, thick, off-white head. Overall impression of appearance is of a pretty good IPA. Scents of pears, sweet tangerine flesh, moderate floral and spicy hop aromas, notes of white pepper in the background and light blueberry and a backing aroma of biscuit-like malt. Overall impression of aroma is of a very bright IPA that utilizes hops quite well to create a diversity of aromas that blend harmoniously into a well executed whole. Flavor begins lightly bitter with notes of spicy hops lending notes of white pepper, herbal hops giving an underlying earthiness, light floral hop flavors of heather also appear with a light citrus peel. Middle continues to gain in bitterness, adding flavors of citrus pith and peel. Finish is dry, showcasing flavors of citrus peel and pith, light white pepper, moderate spicy and floral hop flavors and a pleasant pale malt in the background. Aftertaste is biscuit-like malt and bitter citrus peel. Overall impression of flavor is of a very good IPA. It has a diversity of flavors that keep the flavor crisp and refreshing, finishing pleasingly dry. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a resinous, slick feel with moderate carbonation. Overall impression of mouthfeel is of a very good IPA. Overall this is a good IPA. It has a nicely complex aroma and a refreshing diverse hop flavor with a pleasing mouthfeel. A good IPA.

12oz. Bottle

Pours a pretty nice clean/clear dark golden yellow color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice one-finger creamy off-white head, which leaves some pretty nice thick sticky lacing behind. The nose is hoppy, little malt note, some citrus. The taste is pretty hoppy (In the Anderson Valley Way), slight malt note, some citrus. Medium body, with a nice dry/bitter finish. Overall, a very nice brew.

 

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. "Spring Hornin'"
12 oz. brown glass bottle
$1.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Appearance: Slightly hazy, probably from dry hopping. Very deep amber, almost copper body. Frothy and then creamy off-white/light tan head. Very good head retention and lacing.

Aroma: Perfumey. Floral and fruity. Only a mild bit of sweetish malt makes its way through.

Flavor: Impressively floral! Fruity, peppery, and a touch piney and herbal as well. That rich Anderson Valley maltiness remains, keeping it nicely rounded. Really unique! The floral notes and soft fruits (apple, pear, perhaps some citrus) combine nicely, but it's the floral character that dominates. The alcohol never shows, although at 6.8% it really shouldn't anyway. It's solidly bitter, and it finishes dry with the herbal/pine increasing as the floral notes fade.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and gently crisp.

Overall: Really unique, so points for that. Well balanced and rounded. Absolutely worth trying!

Hazy, golden and copper hue. Active tiny carbonation. Bubbly, sticky head. Honey on the nose. Nice malt body leads with sweetness and then a strong wave of grass and lemon zest. Bitter and sticky finish but that initial blast of malt is still there to balance out. Really enjoyed and was representative of spring.

 

 

 

 

A - Pours a hazy amber color with some particles present in the beer. 2 finger head with great retention and lacing present.

S - Smells like.... nothing. There's very little present at all aside from a very vague hint of hops; very vague. Needless to say it's not bad but than again smells a lot like nothing so hard to say it's good.

T - It tastes water-downed I must say. The hops are present up front with a very vague sweet, malt finish. The harsh aftertaste does it for me though; it's not a pleasant bitter hop aftertaste I'm used to but rather unpleasant - not awful though.

M - Light to medium bodied. Fairly harsh on carbonation but not as horrible as some beers. Harsh aftertaste.

O - The harsh aftertaste and water-downed feeling is what really did me in with this beer. I do give it credit that I can tell the distinction between hops and malt at least but aside from that it's been a let down. I do enjoy the bottle art I must say! Maybe I'll buy again for that..

 

 

Picked up a single 12 oz bottle of this recently. Poured into one of my pint glasses. This beer pours a medium to dark gold/light amber/copper color with some nice streams of little bubbles continuously rising to the beer's surface. Has a nice white head that is about an inch thick when first poured that settles eventually to a very solid 1/4 inch thick. Pretty good lacing here too. Has a nice toasted malt aroma that gives way to citrus and pine hops and some peppery spice hints. the taste is pretty much the same, with a nice toasty caramel malt sweetness followed by a strong citrus and pine hop bitterness that is rounded out with some peppery spice notes that gives this beer a nice bite. The sweetness from the malts and the citrus and pine hop bitterness all linger on the palate nicely for awhile after each sip. Very nice balance of flavors indeed. the peppery spice is indeed a nice touch as well. Has a clean finish and a bit of a dry aftertaste. Has a mainly crisp, slightly prickly, also smooth, medium to full bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. Easy to drink. Quite an enjoyable offering here.

Eric

say "meh" in five words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seemingly fresh 12oz bottle into a Guinness pint.

A: Clear deep-copper with a 1" bone-hued head that really likes to hang around, retention is quite nice, lacing is south of moderate.

S: Definitely unique. Sort of a musty, earthy hop note that clouds out what I'd call a blood orange type aroma beneath it. There's a bit of oily pine punch that only registers later. Really odd.

T: Not bad but it doesn't really read like they knew what they wanted this IPA to be. Lemon-lime citrusy hop-bitterness doesn't punch you in the face but kinda paws at you. At the same time there's this evergreen-forest hop-bitter character that's kinda fighting for dominance on the palate. The malty notes are actually pretty big graham-cracker & do a bit to offset the needlessly bitter, bizarre hop profile. This is a really, really weird IPA - but I kinda like it.

M: Really fits this brew. Ever-so-slightly undercarbed with some thick, slick malt. Slight soapiness. For literally any other IPA I might even be dubious about this aspect.

O: Extra points for being an odd-duck IPA, which is definitely AV's thing. For one it just doesn't taste like Spring to me. Also, it's clearly got a split-personality thing going on in the hop-bill. It's one-of-a-kind, but I'll still drink six of 'em.