Hopilingus
Bacchus Brewing Co.

More Bacchus’s! MOAR!!! So yeah, another Bacchus on the bruview chopping-block, this time it’s Hopilingus Double IPA - a 9% ABV behemoth of hoppy goodness - 1.5kgs of hops in every keg! If that’s a 20L keg than that is insane. If it’s a 50L keg that’s still pretty damn impressive. Comes highly regarded from a fellow hop-head too. “The finest, most resiny hops from the USA, NZ & Australia were blended to create this chewy monster with bite.”… mmmm, excellent. This is also the first Bacchus I’ve reviewed that is a hop-heavy style too, so let’s see how Ross pulls it together - I know he can brew a brilliant Snickers Ale, but can he bring the hops?

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a Duvel tulip.

A: Cloudy tangelo body with a meaty dense 1 centimetre off-white head that sticks around quite decently - go you ‘ead! Some nice lace scribble patterns on the glass wall too. This is a big “piss-off mate I got this!” looking brew, impressive DIPA. 9/10.

S: Tinned tropical fruits abound with papaya, pineapple, and a hint of jackfruit (sort of a bubble gum aroma) in syrup. Yep, it’s going to be a truckload of sugar - at least that is what the aroma is suggesting. Slight herbal cannabis note in there as well adding a green dimension. Right up there and similar to DirtWolf in fragrance - that’s my favourite DIPA too! 10/10.

T: Hits green/herbal/cannabis bitter straight up! In fact the bitterness sits throughout the flavour profile and into the aftertaste becoming quite sharp long after you’ve sipped it. However we’ve jumped ahead somewhat: The flavours of above tropical fruits are there on the palate (papaya, pineapple, and a hint of jackfruit). Malts? A caramel taste on the roof of your mouth. Sweetness is there as well, but that bitter aftertaste, man is that sharp - even for an experienced hop-head like me, and it’s a bit unsettling - what could have been a 10/10 drops down to 5/10.

M: Medium bodied with plenty of hop oils rolling around on the palate, and a light but dense carbonation. 8/10.

D: I needed a real palate cleanser after this one, which is a shame because it had some great DIPA tropical flavours in there, it was just ruined by that crazy sharp bitterness. So maybe 1.5kgs of hops per keg is too much? Or it was too many hops in the kettle boil for too long (I think this is where the bitterness comes from- however I may be mistaken, it’s been a while since I home brewed). In any case this became almost undrinkable towards the end. Smells great though. 5/10.

Food match: Vietnamese or Thai cuisine with fresh chilli added.

Tried on-tap at Dejavu Bar in Melbourne during Good Beer Week 2013.

Pours a dirty, oily brown-bronze colour, solidly hazed but a bit dull in the colour. Weight is solid as well. Head forms a bubbly, pocked film of off-white that leaves fine streaks. Powdery carbonation. Looks decent enough.

Nose has a savoury component to it. Some earthy hops, but undermined by a sweat brown malt character. Slight toastiness, almost smoke and a fatty peanut butter character. Seems wrong to me.

Prickly hops on the front, giving white pepper and a bit of resin. Savoury characters come through again on the mid-palate, again with the suggestion of brown malt. The body is a bit overly sweet with some clinging meatiness. Finish is slightly salty and dry.

Feel is light with a bit of chewiness to it.

Overall, I'm not really a fan. Bacchus do awesome beers, and this should really be a walk in the park for them. It's only "okay" and it should be pushing for "awesome" or better.