13 Knots In A Hangman’s Noose 13th Anniversary Ale
Phillips Brewing & Malting Co.

 

13 Knots on a Hangman's Noose 13th Anniversary Ale plus Hop Drop Hop Liqueur- This poured a hazy golden colour with a thick white head that quickly shrinks lacing the glass. Before pouring the Hop Drop you get allot of citrus and tropical hop notes on the nose. There is some malty sweetness but it's only barely perceivable on the nose. The taste is much the same which the hops overpowering much else except that background sweetness on the finish. Out of the bottle this pours a pretty potent 11.9% ABV however on the neck of the bottle comes a 50ml bottle of Hop Drop Hop Liqueur that you're supposed to drop into the glass. After doing so it becomes more hazy than before but strangely enough the nose doesn't change as much as I expected. The taste however...if this was a hop bomb before it's now a Hop Nuke now but it is now sweeter as well as if it tries to hide the bitterness. This beer hits you pretty much right in the face. Given Phillips attempt to equal the ABV in their Anniversary Ales to their years in business I can't wait to see what next year holds.

 

Bomber poured into a mug. Bright lemon yellow with three fingers of frothy white head.

Beer alone: Aroma of sweetish crackery pale malts (subtle) and copious quantities of citrus/tropical hops, with a health dose of pine needles and perhaps apple pomace. Great "classic" DIPA, sweet caramel-like backbone but loads of resinous aggressive hop flavor front and center: Dank boozy pineapple, lemon, blood orange, lychee, guava, pink grapefruit ... Tons of citrus rind and semi-rank tropical fruit with a dash of sour red berry. Eventually the pine needle element grows rather dominant although the rind and tropical juice aspects keep up admirably. Some of that woody Phillips house yeast character. Decent alcohol bite and I'm a tad cross-eyed after a light dinner. Wonderful flavor though. Hops shining through. Chewy body with moderate to high carbonation. Finish is fairly dry, almost earthy ... Citrus rind until the bitter end.

With hop liqueur added: This homogenizes the brew to an extent, churning the aforementioned elements into a medicinal, woody, yet quite sweet cocktail that recalls certain herb-infused concoctions from the hard liquor realm. Not wild about this although I will admit I was hooked on the notion at first glance.

Phillip's Brewing '13 Knots in a Hangman Noose' @ 11.9% , + the Hop Drop Liqueur = 13.0% , aka the 13th Anniversary Ale served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $6.80

A-pour is a light gold from the bottle to a clear gold in the glass with a medium size off-white head leaving a streaky lace along the pint glass

S-citrus mostly , hop drop is sweet smelling

T-awful without the hop drop , taste is a bit better added , but the swallow is rude

MF-ok/good carbonation , big body

Ov-fun concept , butt a one & done ,

prost LampertLand

 

 

650ml bottle (plus the 45ml hop liqueur 'add-on'). Not much I can add here beyond the expository in the notes section, except to say that this was one of the hardest to procure Phillips products yet in Edmonton - fuck you, hoarders.

This beer pours a crystal clear, pale golden yellow colour, with a fistful of puffy, loosely foamy, and rather bubbly eggshell white head, which leaves some random sudsy archipelago lace around the glass as it quickly sinks away.

It smells quite fruity up front, with lots of tropical and domestic suspects to be had - pineapple, blood orange, gooseberry, passion fruit, lychee, and lemon - all over top of a plainly grainy pale malt, with oh so subtle caramel upgrades as things warm a smidge, alongside some car freshener pine, and the barest of alcohol nose hair twinges. The taste is a bit more amalgamated, the south seas fruitiness melding into a singular entity, the domestic orange and lemon looking on with an impressed air, while the still underwhelming pale malt and its caramel hangers-on, a touch of flinty chalk, and some low-key pine needle acerbity bring up the rear, a backside as yet unhinged by any particular booze encroachment.

The carbonation is fairly unobtrusive as it goes about its low-key, frothy day, the body a decent enough medium weight for the style, and way more smooth than a near 24-proof offering has any right to be. It finishes mostly dry, the general complexity of the hop fruitiness remaining, though not with any attendant sweetness - that is left to the malt and alcohol, who both seem either just shy, or out of the office at the moment.

A tasty as ever DIPA from Phillips, the elevated ABV hard to believe at this relatively early juncture. Drinkable and agreeable in the well-established manner, and blah, blah, blah, let's see what that little electric blue vial of 'hop drop' can add to this heady affair, already!

Ok, first glass done and unmolested by any hanging sidekick nonsense. Now, on to the nonsense - the added 'elixir' renders this a bit cloudy, with a more alcoholic hop nose, and even more tonsil-probing heat in the flavour - gah - I'm guessing that the BC gov't has it right when they set the limit at 11.9%. Oh, and I know this isn't liqueuradvocate.com, but the Hop Drop on its own? Straight-up pine and citrus hoppy grappa - the smooth, good stuff, that is.

 

 

650ml bottle poured into tulip 17/9/14

A 3.75 crystal clear bright golden yellow, a few slow moving streams of bubbles feed a well sustained finger of foam the leaves a few polka dots

S 3.75 heavy on the canned pineapple, mango, passion fruit, lots of lemon and orange, some spruce, hard toffee, and booze gives the nostrils a little sting

T 3.75 not far off the nose, boozy, sweet but not sickly so, more booze, pine and spruce come out stronger, brown sugar and candied tropical fruit notes

M 3.75 thin for such a big DIPA, bubbles fluff up and flatten out, syrupy and a little hot, sweet, piney, boozy finish

O 3.75 I find one reason not too like it and then find something I like, a strange brew that has plenty working for and against it, I could see this one having a wide spread range of ratings

Another first for me, I can't recall seeing a liquor on-pack on a beer before in my life. I liked the Hop Drop on its own but didn't have the balls to spike my beer with it