Hop Ottin' IPA | Anderson Valley Brewing Company

4.55/5  rDev +14%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

12oz brown bottle. Pours a rich, slightly hazy (clears up quick) amber crowned with an amazing 3-fingered creamy white foam head that settles with a very respectable lace with plenty of stick on the glass; clingy and rocky.

Light malts. Resiny, herbal citric hop aroma. Pine. Perfumy.

Smooth. Near full-bodied. Sweet malty base with notes of caramel, grain, a touch of bread crusts and toffee edges. Mild fruitiness of green raisins. Wonderful hoppy character with a resiny grip of hop oils, notes of wood, smack of dulled citric rind, herbal, soft pine sap, prickly spice. Drying nutty finish with a leafy coarse feel on the palate with faint notes of toffee.

A superior American IPA. Balanced, but hoppoliciously aggressive. Highly drinkable, but complex. Oh yeah ... I dig this beer.

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4.45/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Presentation: 12 oz brown long-neck bottle with no freshness date. Blurb about the beer on the back label.

Appearance: Shiny copper hue with cushiony meringue head that leaves a patchy rings down the glass.

Smell: Rustic hop aroma with hints of flowers, tea and tobacco. Citric fruitiness from the hops with a mild nutty and pear-like fruit from the malt / yeast pairing to boot.

Taste: Medium slightly chewy malt body barely holds up the prickly pungent hop bitterness. A little slick oily mouth feel from the hops leaving a bitter sweet citric tea flavour. Fruity esters are perceptible with allusions of cherries and golden raisins, alcohol warms the body a bit also. Malt finds a way to peek out for a tad with a dry nutty and grainy cracker character. The finish is a faded grain and long drawn out tea like hop.

Notes: A true American IPA that gets straight to the point, no pussyfooting around for this brew … immediately to the hops! Malt hardly keeps a foothold against the hops yet still loans some character to this brew. Hate to say it … but this is another superb “hop head” IPA!

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4.74/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Appearance:
Amber-gold color, hazy. Lots of carbonation. Thick rocky head.

Aroma:
Citrus, herbal, resin, sweet malts, caramel.

Taste/Finish/Body:
Hop bitterness up front, citrus, bitter orange, resin, herbal, leafy. Bready malt background, sweet and caramely. Finish is bitter, yet very crisp. Full bodied, refreshing, crisp, slight oily, a little dry, highly drinkable.

Overall:
It's an outstanding American IPA.

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4.19/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Nice looking IPA with an amber color and minimal head. Scent is a bit less bold than I would expect. I'm getting pineapple, citrus and slight melon with a slight malt edge. Nice smooth flavor of citrus and slight pine. Good feel to this beer with a nice mouth coating and yet a crisp finish. No alcohol in the mix. Not very bitter. Quality beer.

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3.63/5  rDev -9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Pours a amber color with a real nice creamy head that leaves some nice lacing,aroma zesty with some honey tones along with a light caramel note.Taste is packed with hops for sure citruisy and a little fruity with a light malt backbone.Iam not a hophead but I do fully appreciate the craftmanship in this one.

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4.45/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Appearance – This is a real looker. The dark orange body promises a good malt compliment to this heavy IPA. The head was full and fluffy and came down in shaving cream lumps of foam. This looks like a heavy hitter.

Smell – The big, piney resin leads things off here. The hop profile doesn’t smell very complex: this is all about the big, pure, unadulterated pine aroma. Even so, I can pick up some creamy malts in the background. Well done at the nose.

Taste – Yes, the caramel and toffee malt base picks things up at the taste. Mind you, the hop flavors here are monstrous so it’s not like you’re not getting any hops, but I was very impressed with the way they picked up the balance. I noticed the balance continued to improve as the beer warmed (it took me an hour to drink the bomber).

Mouthfeel – This is a big medium in the body and very heavy on the palate. There’s some sharp, satisfying dryness all throughout and, again, a big thumbs up for the balanced feel they managed to get out of this recipe.

Drinkability – Drinking this bomber was a wonderful experience. I had low expectations because the label is cheesy and the beer is available in just about every local grocery store, but this was a work of art.

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4.25/5  rDev +6.5%

3.25/5  rDev -18.5%

3.51/5  rDev -12%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Enjoyed this brew poured into a 12oz bar glass.

It pours a nice copper color. It is relatively clear with a very thin head.
The smell is not impressive at all as it has very little in the way of hop aroma, but you can definitely pick up on the malt body.
The taste is what you would expect of a good IPA. There is a nice hop bitterness at first, followed by a nice smooth malt body.
Mouthfeel was good.

I was not overly impressed with this brew. Maybe I had my hopes set too high but really I would classify this as a good but not great IPA. It is pretty easy drinking so if you have easy access to this beer I wouldn’t hesitate to have it be a regular in the line-up but I wouldn’t waist too much time or go too far out of my way to get it.

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4/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Rich amber color with no real head and thus
a lack of lace. Nice active carbonation.

S: Sweet malts and piney hop nose

T: Sweet piney flavor with undertones of citrus
and graininess.

M/D: Smooth and even bodied, lacking the dryness
of the stronger AIPAs.

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3.69/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

4.97/5  rDev +24.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

This is a near perfect IPA. The beer looked great with a very nice amber color and great head and lacing. This has to be one of the best smelling IPA's as well. Usually all you can smell is the onslaught of hops but this one was different. The hops were there no doubt, but there was a great underlying carmel and toffee scent, and some fruity scents in there as well.
The flavor was complex as well. Hops were present of course, but they did not drown out the nice carmel malt flavors and the light honey sweetness in the finnish. This is a great beer and the best Anderson Valley product that I have had.

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3.75/5  rDev -6%

3.58/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

a - light reddish amber; two full fingers of foamy, light orange head that falls to a thin cover quickly but leaves some a good amount of lacing down the glass

s - at first an almost skunky odor, which fades quickly and is replaced by lots of grapefruit and orange, some herbs, not a ton else (but hey, I've got allergies so, you know)

t - lots of everything. kind of like a slightly lesser version of Southern Tier Hoppe with a bunch of fruity citrus flavors, a huge dose of malty sweetness, and a lot of bitterness that's maybe a little more herbal and a little less piney than I usually drink. there's also some kind of weird malt flavor accompanying it that I guess I'd call bready.

m - carbonation isn't too heavy, and makes for a satisfying mouthful

d - I've had other IPAs and DIPAs with this kind of flavor, and there's something that doesn't quite work for me. Part of it's the more herbal hop character, part of it's the higher sugar content interacting with the herb flavors, and part of it's that weird malt flavor I described. Worth trying, but I won't buy another bottle.

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4.47/5  rDev +12%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Deep amber, slightly red bright pour with a nice sticky white head on top. I can already smell the hops...citric, grapefruit peels and sticky pine sap resin. A sweet, sugary caramel nose hits me as well. Inticing....smells big and fresh.

First sip has a big punch of grapefruity, citric hops along with some pine sap and needles. A sweet crystal/caramel maltiness rounds out the body and tries to stand up to the bitterness...however the bitterness wins on the way down and lingers on after each sip. Hints of honey and bread as well. Just an awesome IPA that makes me smile at each sip.

Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy with good bubbles. Good hop oils in there. Wow...I could easily drink a six pack of this stuff...I can't believe I didn't try it sooner. Easily one of my new favorite IPA's...highly recommended.

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1.5/5  rDev -62.4%

4.08/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

A_Pours hazy orange with a thick , sticky off white head. Nice retention. Lacing coats the glass.

S_Strong,sweet floral aroma.Pine and grassy hops.

T_Strong hops upfront.Nice floral bouquet but not as strong as the smell.Grassy earthy hops give this beer a good kick.

M_Full bodied and sticky.

D_Pretty drinkable but for some reason I have a hard time putting down a lot of beers with a strong floral aroma or taste. Easily session-able though.

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3.5/5  rDev -12.3%

4.5/5  rDev +12.8%

3.86/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

4/5  rDev +0.3%

4.11/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - pours clear amber-tinted copper with two fingers of dense off-white head. Head has good persistence and leaves a nice trail of lacing behind.

S - rather subtle blend of bready malt and floral hops

T - nice hop bite up front. Grassy and piney with some florals as well. Hops are nicely balanced by a solid malt backbone. Finish is very herbal, bitter and dry.

M - medium mouthfeel is slightly oily. Finishes clean and dry with lingering bitterness.

O - very nice ipa with a much deeper flavor profile than the aroma suggests. Would love to have this on a regular basis. And the cans make this a great one to have while
camping.

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3.37/5  rDev -15.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

On tap, served in a pint glass:

Pours a deep, copper color with amber tints. Nice, 2 finger foam head that dissipates to leave a nice lace on the glass.

The best aspect of the beer was how great it smelled. Extremely floral, a great pine smell, and lots of citrus, with a malty backbone. I even held it up to my nose for a while to savor the smell a bunch.

This seems like a pretty average IPA taste-wise, with extra bitterness up front and not much on the backend. The flavor was not very complex--just hoppy bitterness with a weaker pine finish. There wasn't much else to the flavor structure, and although I enjoy my IPAs, I enjoy a bit more complexity and a more bitter/clean aftertaste.

This beer was not carbonated enough and felt like water. Very light-bodied, if you are into that.

I could go for another, but with all the other IPAs around, I'd probably grab one of those beforehand.

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3.3/5  rDev -17.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

The Hop Ottin' pours a hazy golden-orange with a large, frothy white head that has good retention and lacing.

The aroma is appealing floral hops with some subtle, almost caramel sweetness.

The taste is some slightly sweet caramel malts initially, and then bang! come the bitter hops. It follows with a strong, bitter, lingering aftertaste. It's medium bodied and the bitterness coats your mouth.

Overall, a decent IPA. I thought it could have used more balance. I tend to prefer IPAs with more citrus tones and less of a bitter aftertaste. This was much more bitter in the bottle than I remember from drinking it on tap.

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4.75/5  rDev +19%