Hop Gold
Tugboat Brewing Company

 

Had this on tap at Tugboat brewpub in Portland. They had several interesting guest taps, but figured I should try out one of their beers. Pours a bright orange colour with a finger of white head, nice head retention and lacing. Smells of citrus hops with some mild caramel malt. Nice bitterness level, not huge though. This is certainly a hop forward pale ale. Nice carbonation level. I could easily have a few pints of this.

This pint was cloudy and on the yellow side of amber which it occurs to me is probably gold! The head was very thin.

It had a floral nose along with a doughy smell.

It offered a fruity, but hose water infused start which gave way to a pleasant hoppy finish. This had the weird gold flavour which I've never quite been able to describe. It somehow churns the mouth rather than the stomach and makes one want to screw one's face up, but not in a bad way...

This reminded me of Rogue's Yellow Snow, but is more laid back than that. The abv remains unknown, but if the effects are anything to go by this one is unusually potent. It put me in a very good mood!

This beer looks pretty from what I can tell of it from the light of a single candle as two INSANE trombonists and a kit drum player let loose beneath a blue lightbulb on the so-called “stage”. There were six of us in the place on a Tuesday and one of us was getting emotional.

Hop Gold is a pale ale, perhaps an IPA. It is an excessively hoppy brew with a frightfully beefy fragrance, a radiant gold color, and perfect, perfect lace. Honestly, I’ve never seen a non-nitro beer put out lace like this. It covers the glass like wallpaper. Right down to the last swill.

The smell is of raw yeast – like a mixing bowl full of bread dough. The taste has that hop-citrus thing going full-on. Lots of grapefruit and an all around good vibe.

Hey, the band just named a song after me called Audience Participation. Cool.

I’m sure others won’t appreciate this beer as much as myself, even if they do get a chance to try it, which is somewhat doubtful as Tugboat never seems to brew the same beer twice. But you can only get the Tugboat Hop Gold here. And that’s an important part of it. If you don’t get it here, you don’t get it, do you? Got it? Cool.

The band tonight is called Rape of the Sabines. Well, that’s what I call them anyway. That’s what they sound like. Assuming the Sabines were trombones.

Remember, ambiance is half of everything with a Tugboat ale. Cheers.