Hop Celebrator Ale
The Crafty Squire

This beer's misnamed on beer advocate. It's actually called "Hop Celebrator." As an American hop-head, this one was right up my alley. While sampling this brew, I met the brewmaster, Doug. He told me that he uses 9 kilo(!) of hops in each batch of this stuff and gets an IBU of about 55, if I remember right. Anyways, it pours out a nice deep golden color, with a nice head thanks to a little wheat malt used in the process. Hops dominate the smell. No surprise there. A nice citrus burst of herbucker and fuggles, If I remember right. Drinkability's not that great, but it's not meant to be. This is one where the hop taste sticks to the back of your tongue for a while. A nice change of pace from the underhopped (in my opinion) average Australian beer. Unfortunately this one is rarely brewed.

first things first. i have a major issue with a brewery calling a beer that is not a bock 'celebrator'. there would be certain occasions where i would not bother trying the beer for this reason alone. however, with a recent drop off in quality of micro brews in this state, i felt i definately needed to get in and at least give something new a go. so ff to the portland i went to taste their latest offering. fortunately, i was not disappointed. not outstanding, but the quality of this brew was somewhere in the vicinty of what i was expecting.

very much in the american style, darker orange color, more bubble action, and hops all but jumping straight out of the glass right at you. head retention was as good as any. in fact, i think im going to stop mentioning this aspect of beer from now on unless its really good or bad. i find lack of head to be as much a comment on glass cleanliness than the beer itself. did like the color tho, very bold, a little cloudy and excited jets up the sides of the glass. the smell and taste of this APA has the usual suspects all present and accounted for. fruity flavor with malts lingering to the back and huge billows of hop aroma rising from the beer. as anticipated tho, the beer lacked some balance in the overall scheme of things. the hops was good and tasty, if just a little too cloying. this beer did have a decent zing to it that i enjoyed at the end. however, on the whole i felt their previous attempt at a big hoppy beer, the charlottes gift, was a better beer.

a fair effort from the portland boys, but not a beer id be busting my chops to get my hands on. its still worth having a sample of every once in a while if youre in the neighbourhood. this is a limited brew so it wont be around long. maybe they should keep it going longer and have a crack at refining it...