Queen of Hops #1669 - Hazy IPL
Stoudts Brewing Co.

I CAN't tell you how excited I am that Stoudt's has begun CANning! They were a long-time holdout from The CANQuest (tm), but Carol has long known of my passion & dedication to CANned beers so I'd like to take partial credit. ;=)

From the CAN: "22 IBU"; "QOH - A series centered around using innovative ingredients & techniques to produce unique interpretations of popular beer styles."; "This IPL is brewed w/oats & wheat, fermented w/our house lager yeast, & dry-hopped w/Mosaic & Azacca."

I was elated, on the Crack!, to discover that Carol Stoudt had provided me with a brimful craft CAN! I was also dubious as to its haziness since I know that a) she is not big on filtration, but b) she also believes in natural attenuation. To this end, I CANducted a very slow, gentle C-Line Glug into my awaiting glass, stopping only when the massive three-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head became unmanageable. Color was an oh-so-slightly-hazy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 -5). Nose had a crisp crackery maltiness with a freshly-picked from the garden earthy greeniness. 8=O It smelled very earthy, very green, with a tomato & pepper quality. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was NOTHING like the nose, instead bringing a Southern Hemisphere sweet fruitiness of mango, papaya, guava & passion fruit! 8=O Still, it definitely had a dry, crisp biscuit-malt quality with a light earthiness. By golly, this was making me feel jolly!

I CAN remember equating Lager with AAL for a LONG time until I was set straight by my FerMentor, Lew Bryson, who explained that not all Lagers were mass-produced AALs & that was when the scales fell from mine eyes & I got hip to (especially) Pilsners. I still really dig Saaz-hopped Pilsners, but it was with the advent of IPLs that I really caught the wave.

This had the kind of crisp dryness that I would expect from The Queen of Hops. Carol was never a malt-driven brewer & all of her recipes evince a love of hops. This was dang close to a Pilsner without using Saaz hops! I was really digging on it as it quickly seemed to evaporate from my glass. Finish was dry & earthy & I was once again getting flavors of garden-fresh tomatoes & peppers. 8=O My neighbors used to grow both & the Summers were filled with the aromas of their garden. I miss them terribly with this beer evoking some great memories. YMMV.

Now this pours a nice solid hazy amber with a solid whiote foam and great retention.
The aroma is a tough one...because it is labeled as a lager, but it comes across as an IPA...it has the hoppiness, maltiness, and citrus/tropical fruits to it that are very pleasant to the old factory.
The taste follows the nose with smooooth fruity hoppy/malt citrusy explosion over the palate...alot going on here for a so-called lager, but an A-1 IPA.
As for the feel it has the smoothness and pleasant feel that is tough to beat.
All in all this is a wonderful brew that is flown under a Lager flag, but in reality I feel it's a IPA with flair! Very happy to have tried this beer!!!!

 

 

Dark yellow in color with a hazy, unfiltered appearance. Poured with a tall, soapy, bright white foam with excellent retention. Medium malty aromas with light, earthy, floral notes. Medium bodied with aggressive, high, acidic carbonation andunmistakable, prickly booziness from the middle to the end. Bready and malty flavors up front followed by a burst of spicy, slightly acidic, intense bitterness through the middle. Tapering bitterness, earthy and spicy hop flavors on the back end. Finished semi-dryly with a definitive boozy bite, light malty notes and lingering, spicy bitterness. Malt character was a bit lacking for a lagers and despite the 22 IBUs on the label, this was aggressively bitter. Balance was a bit out of whack.

#1669 on can

The hazy deep golden colored beer pours out into a Duvel glass with a 1 1/2” off-white head that recedes very slowly leaving lots of rings, a few large and lots of tiny ones, and a web of lacing on the sides of the glass. Sipping creates a clean area with a couple of large patches and lots of small scattered patches and legs of lacing.

The aromas are light, clean and include some tropical fruits such as mango and papaya along with some citrus such as orange and lime. Way in the background there’s some spicy character and a bit of grain and malt

The flavors are clean, fresh, and much as expected from the nose with the mango, papaya, orange and lime along with a touch of spiciness. The malt and grains provide some very light grainy sweetness and the gentle bitterness seems to be from both citric zest and pine resin.

The mouth feel is medium bodied and fairly smooth with finely bubbled persistent carbonation. The finish begins as the fruit flavors and sweetness begin to fade while the citric and resinous bitterness begins to show and then also gradually fade a way into a dry ending that invites another sip.

Overall this is both a drinkable and an enjoyable beer and I’d be happy to have another. The aromas/flavors are clean, fresh and refreshing with the sweetness and bitterness being both light and in a very nice balance. Looking forward to having this one again and also to trying future beers in the Queen of Hops series.