Hoppiness Jones
Sun King Brewing Company

 

 

 

This is just about the worst idea for an IPA I've seen recently, so I absolutely had to grab a can just to see how much the involved breweries would screw it up. Does that sound cynical? Maybe almost unnecessarily so? Well, duh... look what's going on here! I haven't had a great beer from Sun King yet, and Rhinegeist is mostly-average stuff, so their idea to take an 8% IPA and age it in both pinot noir and tequila barrels with added hibiscus has got to be a comically-bad concept just MADE to fail. Right? Guess we'll see!

The pour is a burnished copper color with a retentive, taut head of off-white/light khaki foam that leaves behind no lace. It sure does stick around for the entirety of my sipping at this bizarre ale, however, and the color itself is quite nice to behold. What isn't great, though, is the intense amount of particulate matter in suspension here. There was a time when I loved this kind of thing, but that time is not 2019, and most breweries should be against having free-floating particles in their beer, considering modern trends. Perhaps the barreling changed this quite a bit, plus there could be some floral matter from the hibiscus (and whatever hops were added), so I'm willing to give the involved breweries a little bit of a pass, but... yeah, there's a lot of texture to this one.

The nose leads me to believe this will be within the realm of "American Strong Ale" and not much like any kind of modern definition of IPA. That's fine, but I'm also that pedantic guy who hated when everyone was calling everything with even a slight amount of dry-hopping an IPA back 3-4 years ago, and I still dislike it now. Brown IPAs, Pink IPAs, you remember that whole thing if you've been around a little bit. This just smells like a boozy mess, honestly. Then again, I JUST found this on shelves today (might be a week or so late, however), and the can says it expires, well, today. Here's another aside before I get into my proper review, and apologies if there have been a lot so far... don't release beer into a new-to-you market if it cannot be reasonably acquired three-to-four weeks before its best-by date. It's awful business and makes me want to disregard you right away. Getting a ton of dark grape, prune, plum, date, mango, grapefruit peel, and rum-soaked tangerine in the nose, by the way... this is just bonkers, and not in a great way whatsoever.

On the palate, it drinks like, well... a boozy mess. I'm not surprised at all by this fact. Dates, prunes, and other dark pit fruit meld with some lighter notes of molasses and candied orange peel before a bitter, aspirin-like hoppiness finishes my palate off. The weird thing about this, though, is that I can't imagine it really tasted much better a month ago. This beer truly does emanate an aura of "why?" throughout the entirety of its time on the shelf and in my glass. It's just so weird and random. Tequila and pinot noir barrels aren't even a vaguely good sounding combination (even for, say, a big stout!), and the hibiscus addition seems like an afterthought despite clearly being something both breweries tested and agreed to have as an additional adjunct ingredient in this beer. I'm just... so confused by this. It's weirdly drinkable and well made despite its odd flavor profile, I might add. Nothing about this feels off-balance, and I don't feel the desire to drain-pour it. It's just really weird. Is this what craft beer wanted to be? I feel like this might be one of those ideas destined for something like Extreme Beer Fest that was only available for one three-hour period and never saw the light of day again, but this exists in stores... with distribution. It's just so strange. I can't get over it. It's nonsensical and not even good, but I want to keep drinking it. Truly, I have reached the point of madness...

...or have I?

 

The color is a brownish red, like that of a Flanders red, and there is a small bubbly head that disappears quickly. Upon further inspection, there appear to be tiny particles suspended throughout. There are some notes of hops on the nose, but they are quickly overcome by oak, sweet wine, and some booze. Taste of fruity hops at first, followed by oak, tea, tequila, and a light floral character from the hibiscus. Bitterness is low. Feel is medium and moderately dry.
The aging process takes the beer far from familiar IPA territory, and the tequila aspect is just shy of too much.

Fairly clear body of a surprisingly dark red color. Little head to speak of.

The nose is mostly a fairly straight forward IPA, with earthy, piney hops carrying a touch of citrus, along with hints of caramel grains. There's a noticeably vegetal note, however, that seems to be a blend of hibiscus, tequila, and oak - it's really not easy to attribute it to just one influence.

It's an aroma that is rather bipolar: for a straight IPA, it almost comes across as stale (although that's not quite it), but those flowery, vegetal notes are actually attractive.

Hibiscus and tequila translate fairly straight forward to the palate, with a citrus kiss from the hops around mid-sip, and a restrained but pleasant presentation of caramel and pale grains. There's a very mild sharp sourness, and a very faint grape note, but certainly nothing that screams pinot noir.

Fantastically lively and easy body for an 8% brew; it really does drink more like a single IPA, which some imperial-strength IPAs manage .... but not many, and not often this well. Fairly high bitterness, with a very slightly dry finish, leaving an impression of grains, flowers, and hop oil around the mouth.

Dark red-amber rosy pour with good retention. Smells a bit malty and caramely, some hints of toffee, citrus, oak barrel, slight wine and tequila, with a beautiful aromatic floral note. Tastes toasty, malty, a little caramely and bready with citrus fruit notes, slight red berry, floral hibiscus, subtle pinot noir red wine and tequila oak barrel, with resinous earthy herbal pine notes. Quite refreshing, different and nice. Feels medium bodied, smooth with moderate low carbonation. Overall a real nice and interesting IPA aged in pinot noir and tequila barrels with hibiscus.

Teaming up with the neighboring state of Ohio, Sun King's 10-4 Good Buddy collaborative series ale swings for the fences with an IPA that employs the flavors of red wine, tequila and hibiscus for a challenging attempt that hopes for a home run.

Rosy gold and cast in a moderate hop haze, Hoppiness Jones build a luminous froth before a peppery twinge of dry woods, fruit peels and pine teases and taunts the nose. Malt sweetness of light honey, caramel and wine coolers grace the front of the tongue with a short-lived grain balance.

Then as soon as the ale hits the middle palate, its the hops that spring to life with an abundance of grapefruit skins, orange peels and lime. The wine influence outweighs the tequila flavors for a taste of raspberry, cherry and grape that blends into the more subtle tea-like tones from the hibiscus. But its the aggressive oak tannins that win out in the end, even out dueling the bitter pang of piney hops by a good margin.

Medium bodied and trending assertively dry from the powdery textures of oak, the unnecessary grip on the gullet that the barrels and booze provide is punishing to the tastebuds and renders this collaboration a strike out in the end.