Hopstate NY (2016)
Brewery Ommegang

 

 

 

12oz brown bottle, sample from the brewery.

Great looking head and lacing, nearly clear deep amber hue. Very herbaceous in the nose with hoppy suggestions of bay leaves, tarragon, old bay, and earth. Oh so smooth, medium body is a bit creamy. Semi-chewy maltiness with a peppery hop bitterness to balance. Biscuity, yeasty, and dry in the finish with a linger of vegtal hops. Love trying brews that use a hopping character like this, hope Ommegang continues to broaden their portfolio with beers that are this adventurous.

Pours cloudy dark gold color, which is odd for an amber ale, but it had a solid 2+ finger foamy white head that I could run my finger through which dissipated very, very slowly, leaving excellent foamy lacing with spider webs as it went down.

Smells of fresh piney and citrus hops up front, with lemon zest, grapefruit, orange peel, coriander, peppery spices, rye, biscuit, dry grass and earthy notes like hay or spruce. The rye comes on late but then sticks around to battle the hops for center stage. Nice malt base mixed with the fresh hop aroma and spicy rye.

Tastes starts off with fresh piney and citrus hops up front just like the nose, but then the biscuit and rye spices kick in like a sweet ESB. It settles down and becomes more zesty as the citrus comes out with red grapefruit, lemon zest, orange peel, toasted grains, coriander and peppery spices, more rye, light caramel, bread crust and a light syrupy-like sweetness. The sharp rye and spices mix well with the sweetness and add nice balance.

Mouthfeel is very creamy and smooth, with very mild carbonation, a medium to slightly chewy body which has a grainy texture, a spicy bitterness as it finishes malty with a lot less hops than were present in the flavor and nose. It's a real good beer, but a tad too spicy to drink more than one in a single sitting. This would pair nicely with a fish dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look: Poured aggressively into an english pub glass, a cloudy orange yellow hued beer with a great sized, rocky, three finger head of off white foam that leaves intricate bands of lacing all the way down the glass and maintains spectacular retention.

Aroma: The aroma is pungent! Very hoppy, I'm getting notes of pineapple juice, bitter orange rind, pink grapefruit juice, maraschino cherry liquor, vanilla cream and of course, tons of resinous pine sap. You can tell this is dry hopped.

Taste: I'm having this fresh and all I can say is the hop flavor is insane, Ommegang hit a home run with this... I'm getting huge juicy, sour notes of yellow grapefruit rind and pink grapefruit juice... oily,succulent orange rind... pineapple and coconut smoothie... pie crust and graham cracker (I'm assuming from the rye), vanilla custard... a wonderful fresh tree sap and pine resin note provides enough of a contrast to the juicyness to round things out on the finish.

Feel: Refreshing. The mouthfeel is juicy, bittersweet and tropical with very subtle alcoholic and dry undertones.

Overall: While I'm not one to disagree with the brewery, this tastes more like an IPA to me than an amber ale - in my opinion it's certainly hoppy enough and if I was tasting it blind that's what I'd call it... Regardless, this is delicious.

If you can find it fresh pick this up if you're a fan of hoppy beers and a fan of Ommegang.

 

 

 

L: A copper yellow. Pours with a finger of head. Dissipates slowly leaving a thick film on top. Plenty of lacing.

S: Some citrus, spices.

T: Very pronounced, earthy, spicy taste. No hints of caramel.

F: Moderately carbonated. Medium body.

O: Very nice. Not sure why this is considered an amber. Doesn't look or taste like one. But I will look forward to this every year.

F:

A hopped up American Rye Amber Ale. Just got a sample from the Ommegang RV Road Trip as it stopped at Marcy Discount Beverage July 15th. This is a completely new formulation of a beer with the same name last year, but way better than,last year's version in my opinion. More details available on the new ingredients and new all-NY hops on Ommegang's website.
This review will be updated once I am able to find a whole bottle to pour into a proper glass. All I had was about 3 ounces pored into a plastic cup, but the beer was definitely worth seeking out once available. According to the website, this one will not be available outside of NY State. This is definitely an easy drinking session-able ale.
Update: Now that the beer is available in stores, the first bottle made a "pop" rather than a hiss when opening. Interesting. Poured slowly, the beer had a nice white 1 inch head. The beer was light Amber with good carbonation.
The smell is subdued fruity hops. The taste is well balanced between the hops and malts. The feel is smooth, yet well carbonated and easy to drink. The hop bitterness remains in the roof of your mouth inviting you to take another drink. Overall, a real nice beer that shows off all-NY State hops.