Hop Smoke
Bear Island Brewing Company

 

this is an amazingly creative concept here, a wet hopped rye ipa, but the kicker is that they smoke the wet hops on a traeger, who has ever heard of such a thing! smoked hops! not a smoked beer with hops, but actually smoked hops, a crazy idea and it really works, perhaps a little bit of a novelty, not the most drinkable beer in the world, but something mighty unique and enjoyable in small doses for sure, one of the more clever wet hop beers i have seen around this season. the beer has an amber color, a bit of haziness, and a patchy tan head on it, a little unrefined looking, and darker than i expected an ipa to be, maybe from the smoke, i dont know. aroma is awesome, a little green bitterness to the hops, and they dont appear cooked or anything, retaining a lot of dankness to me, some bitter orange as well, a the rye spiciness comes through nicely as well. the flavor is real complex, super earthy, not overly smoked but that element sure is obvious, im not sure i can tell the hops were smoked, but the combination of smoke and fresh hops is really cool in this. some citrus, burning weed, even light roasted coffee notes, and the earthiness of the rye as well, really well layered flavor. nice and bitter too, way more than the wet ones usually are, and not so much smoke that it lingers, its new again on each sip, which i like. these guys are making some really innovative beers, i have never seen anything like this. well executed too, i like the rye a lot in the mix, fun stuff!

Draft at Taphouse. Murky, dark copper, huge fluffy head. Aroma is a bit tame, flavor ticks up a bit though. Just a bit. A little bit f bitterness, a little bit if rye sourness. Lots of little bits, but not one dominates. Just OK.