Hop Lab - Red
Bank Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

22oz bottle dated 11/15

L Clear honey gold with streaming bubbles and a fluffy white cap
S Dank tropical stone fruits meet some herbal notes
T Juicy dank pineapple and guava give way to a pleasant leafy bitter finish
F Medium light with balancing dryness and bitterness
O An eye opener to the Topaz hop right here. Will be looking for more examples of this hop.

Pours from the bottle an absolutely crystal clear light amber with a creamy white head.
Aroma is strongly floral with some notes of sweet orange juice and just a hint of spice and herbal earthiness.
The taste is tropical and bitter. Flowery with some pineapple and even peach with a bitter and drying close.
Mouthfeel is medium and slightly sticky.
Good beer.

 

 

I’ve been craving hops & this says “Hop Lab” on the bottle, so here we are. 22 oz. bottle, red label, split with my wife. Bottled 11/15/15.

The pour is light orange, fairly clear, appropriately carbonated. The nose is excellent: ripe melon, light sugar, biscuits the way my grandma used to make them. Mmmm.

Hop Lab - Red Label is jumping-off-the-second-story jarring. The tropical fruits, with the melon in the vanguard, are met head-on by a searing hop bitterness. The twain seem uneasily married. Underneath there’s a bit of sweet bread, light spiciness, & faint sepia tones, but these barely register on the fruit/bite scale. I’m glad I split this bottle.

I love fruit in my IPAs & love bitterness in my IPAs, but these two are like brother & sister, & not in an X-Files in Kentucky sort of way. This isn’t quite my bag, but I’m working to appreciate the distinct aspects, which are nice. Pretty good brew.

 

Bottled 11/15/15. Clear amber with a just over a finger of head that had good retention before settling to a thick cap. Heavy lacing is left down the glass. This IPA features the Topaz hop which I have had in single hop beers before. Aroma of citrus and tropical fruit. Appealing smell. The earthiness comes in upfront in the flavor followed by the tropical fruit. It is an interesting flavor combination. Notes of citrus and some resinous dankness. A little bit of sweetness and bready flavor from the malt. Bitterness is high but there is enough hop flavor for a nice payoff. Medium body as this is a bigger IPA. Good carbonation as well. This beer demonstrates what this hop is capable of in the right hands.

Nose is incredibly rich, yet difficult to describe. It has that tropical hop profile that came with the Citra and Amarillo versions, but this one is geared way more towards melon/mango than citrus. This does allow those biscuit-like malts to shine through a little more.

So smooth. Again, the bitterness is minimal, allowing you to get a really good grasp on the actual flavor of the chosen hop. Absolutely delicious, and somewhat unique in the field of trendy-hopped IPA's.

 

Grabbed a bottle from Heritage Liquor, Maplewood, and appears to be bottled within the last two weeks.
Look: The beer pours a light orange color and is translucent. There's a decent amount of carbonation and some lacing as well.

Smell: I get predominantly fruit, with orange being what I notice most. Maybe some slightly earthy notes.

Taste: taste is similar to the nose with some orange flavor and tropical fruits. The beer is pretty sweet with fruit, the middle is slightly bitter, but the finish smooths out a bit with more hop flavor and some bitterness lingering.

Feel: I like that the beer doesn't seem too thin. There's a slight dry ending with lingering bitterness.

Overall: I'd never heard of Bang Brewing but was recommended by the cashier. This is a winner, in my opinion.