Tragically Hopped
Great North Aleworks

The past couple of days have been an amazing CANmalgam of Goses & Pilsners, but now my supply is exhausted. I had the Duvel as kind of an oddball, but it will lead me back to some of the breweries from which I reviewed beers the last couple of days, including Transmitter, Manayunk (CANayunk), Sly Fox, Conshohocken (CANshohocken), Sloop & Great North. Following that excursion, I will be focusing on imports for a while, bringing me full circle to that one. Stay tuned. It's gonna be CANother wild ride on The CANQuest (tm)!

From the CAN: "Tragically Hopped Double IPA"; "[Recycling -] You know what to do".

I feel like I've just been diddling myself so far today, chipping at the massive addiction that is my hop jones. It's time to get a fix, baby! Dig? I started out with a Crack! of the vent, followed by a long, slow, gentle, tantalizing C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. I mean, like, I've waited this long, why not make it a groovy trip? Wild! Man, I was soon staring into two-plus fingers of some far-out, foamy, dense, rocky, bone-white head. Is this trip really necessary? I looked away, man, and POOF!, it was gone. 8=( Color was an oh-so-slightly hazy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5). Cool, cool. Yeh, my reefer might be too cool, causing a chill haze, man. Oh man, the nose was like outta this world, man! It totally hit me with a PNW vibe of like, pine forest and wood and some wild caramel malt, man. I tied off and jammed the spike home! I just couldn't wait CANother seCANd, man! Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, a little light for the style, but that was not my focus, dig? Baby, gimme dem hops! And it did, in no small way, either. Now, I was flying & me without a pilot's license! The taste was hops, hops & some more hops. I'm guessing the Cs here - Columbus, Citra, Cascade, Centennial & Chinook. Bee-yoo-tee-full! Plus a little caramel malt to keep me from an OD. Man, that would be a bummer. What wasn't a bummer was how I was feeling with this beer. It scratched an itch, it calmed the screeching monkey on my back & it just made the day a whole lot warmer. Finish was kinda surprising, CANming in semi-dry, approaching dry. I really dig this scene, man. YMMV.

Didn’t need this double ipa after a couple beers in the afternoon, but we had no choice when we heard it was a tribute to the Hip. Glad we trie dit because it is a great beer. Thanks Owl’s Nest and Night Shift for serving some great beers from your tap takeover partners...good choice!

 

Great North Aleworks "Tragically Hopped"
1 Pint can, "PKG 08/27/18 16:51:56 8.5%ABV"
$4.00 @ Candia Road Convenience, Manchester, NH

Notes via stream of consciousness: Nice slick-looking label. I like the Maple leaves. It's poured a mostly clear, just slightly hazy deep gold body beneath an inch-plus of off-white foam. Not a lot of bubbles can be seen rising below but the head is holding really well and there's thick curtains of lace left behind where it has fallen. In the nose it's hoppy, no duh, right? I mean like hop-resin. It's citrusy/fruity with grapefruit, passionfruit, mango, berry, and somewhat piney and a little earthy. It's bright and fresh and welcoming - nicely done! The flavor... ... ... isn't quite as fruity as the nose might suggests, which is actually probably a good thing - this is an IPA, not a fruit beer, or at least not a NE IPA (although technically it is coming from New Hampshire). The malt has a solid presence, somewhat sweet, somewhat grainy, mainly bready and basically very straightforward. It's accentuated, or wrapped in the hop flavors, and it works well; it's nicely balanced. I'm getting less citrus now and more of the other fruits, and a nice swirl of pine towards the finish. A solid bitterness runs straight through it, balancing the malt, and bringing it to a dry, bitter conclusion. In the mouth it's medium-full in body and gently crisp. I thought maybe it could have a little more carbonation and I looked at my glass for bubbles only to realize that I've still got a solid almost eight-inch of foam on it, and some pretty nice lacing as well. How strong is this? Oh yeah, 8.5%, they've included that with the packaging date. I don't really get the alcohol in the flavor, it's just there kind of lurking in the background as 'strength', but I am starting to feel it a little bit. I'm pretty impressed. I'm assuming they're using some Mosaic as that berry note I'm getting is turning a little 'blueberry' now, and I'm glad they left the crystal malts out - so wait, maybe this is a little bit of a NE IPA? Kidding. Except for those things it's really a kind of a classic IPA except that it's also a double IPA so it's a bit bigger. And it doesn't fall into that group of double IPAs that become more about a big sweetish malt center that's then covered in hops, no, this is balanced like a straightforward IPA just a little bit bigger. I'm liking it!
Review# 6,281

 

1st time tasting. Dated one month old from my opening . Picked out on a whim on a Friday evening ride home for a new brew a comparison test. The IIPA market is getting "very" competitive in the area but "Tragic" rates as a "good" hop ale. Didn't meet all criteria.

 

 

 

 

On tap, don't know that I've seen this can in stores - I usually buy all the dipas ha! Pour has a frothy off-white cap settling down to a thin wisp atop a clear light-golden brew. Aroma hints at a floral, light hop surprisingly non-dank for the namesake. Similarly the flavors are hoppy but not tragically so - this is a well-balance ale tending toward the drier side. I prefer more malt backbone, but can't complain. This is not so bitter, curious on the ibus, I sometimes wonder if my palette gets muted to bitterness.

 

From the tap in a sample glass, yellow to gold in color, almost clear, citrus

16 oz. can poured into Samuel Adams glassware. ABV 8.5% | special release
Tragically Hopped is designed and brewed as a “classic” Double IPA. It uses a blend of Centennial, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops, at a whopping 3 pounds per barrel in the kettle, and another 3 pounds per barrel as dry hops. The crystal malt out of this one, and instead used a combination of Munich and Wheat malt, along with cane sugar to keep the finish clean and dry but with a definite bitter finish. Originally brewed August 2016.

 

 

 

 

canned 10.31.17

Can poured into a teku glass

Clear amber gold, one finger off white frothy, foamy cap, quickly settles

aroma of wet grass, whiff of dank

taste of pine hop, earthy,

medium sudsing, big hop bite, mouth puckering dry finish , hoppiness abounds

good beer