Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale
Full Sail Brewing Company

 

Wow, for having the words fresh hop and lupulin in a beer name, this was as disappointing as can be along those lines. Darker in yellow, small 1/3" white head. Lacking a hoppy aroma.

Plenty of woody malt flavors and mouthfeel, but lacking hops. Strangely stresses malt. What is going on here? Caramel. Lacking hop flavors, assertiveness. Bready, carbonated like a cask ale almost, contributing to the heavy malt aspect.

So disappointing. Older review from yesteryears notes.

 

 

A: Poured a amber color with low carbonation leaving a small white cap and light bubbles

S: Flat and unimpressive. Light floral and a bare whiff at citrus and that is stretching the thruth

T: Caramel base with that damn unique Full Sail crystal and Pale malt base I despise. Some light herbal and citrus notes.

M: Flat mouthfeel, boring

O: Avoid.

 

 

 

Lupulin Fresh Hop from Full Sail, on tap @ R&R Public House (awesome place) Meridian ID. Served in an Ayinger nonic.

A: Pours golden straw with the slightest touch of haze and rising carbonation. Just under two finger off-white head dissipates and leaves some lace behind.

S: Muted and not very hop-forward for a fresh-hop single-hop ale. There is sweet caramel malt, floral hops and soft fruit flesh. Light bready character.

T: Floral and herbal hops with a generous pale malt backbone. Some banana and other fruit as well, from the yeast possibly? Underneath there is a touch of grapefruit zest...and a tiny amount of toasted grain and nuttiness on the finish.

MF: Wet, light, refreshing body with low carbonation and a small kiss of lingering dryness.

O: Not very impressive in my opinion...too light on the hops.

On cask at the horsebrass.

The beer pours a fairly light amber copper color with fair head retention and lacing (about what I would expect for most cask beer though). I really love how this beer smells... there's pleny of citrus and light sweet malt, but the wet hop addition really imparts some nice additional aromas of ranier cherry and light dank earth. The combinations is very attractive. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this well crafted, nicely balanced IPA. The beer leans to the dry and bitter side as I would expect from a FS IPA, but it's not overdone. Also, considering the alcohol content, it's nothing short of amazing how much flavor this beer delivers. The finish on this beer is long, dry and bitter, with the alcohol completely unnoticeable.

Maybe the amount of hoppy goodness would wear me out eventually in this beer, but a single glass was just fine for me.

Also had on draft the same. The beer might be a bit better on draft than cask, but otherwise I didn't find much of a noticeable difference between the two versions.

(From notes.) Poured a clear reddish-copper with a thin off-white head. Very mild biscuity aroma with floral and pine hops.

Slightly low carbonation and a thin mouthfeel. Flavor also lacked impact with some caramel biscuit notes and the slightest hint of hoppy citrus on the finish.

Drinkable but forgettable. I like Full Sail a lot, but I tried this alongside their Sanctuary dubbel and I wouldn't be sad if these brews didn't join their permanent lineup.

I was surprised by how dark this beer was: mahogany, slightly hazed, with hints of red in the light. The cask left the beer with little carbonation, and may have suffered from room temperature service after a 90 degree day.

Nose was grapefruit and pine hops with a roasted grain, cereal, and biscuit malt nose. The malt take over in the first taste.

The beer was a smidgen flat and so I expect the flavor would brighten with a little more carbonation, but this is still a big, heavy beer. The four-ounce taster is plenty, thanks.

This was the most disappointing beer I've ever had at Hopfest, this was from 2009.

Came out a dark color, good head, no problems so far. Aroma was missing.

Taste, geez, nothing like a big malt and wood flavored beer at a festival called Hopfest. Where's the hops? And then to throw Lupulin in the name? I was really disappointed, tasted like a mead aged in an oak barrel.

Just had the 2010 version on-tap there...

- Clear copper colored ale... bubbly white head... left a nice thin layer on top. Their yeast seems to give most of their beers the same look except for color.

- Creamy sweet caramel malts, biscuit, roasty grain... fresh grassy and herbal hops... light citrus and pine.

- Well balanced... and not super hop forward. Smooth malt profile, caramel, roasty grain... balanced.

- Light to medium bodied, slightly filling... a little drying.

- Overall very good, but not as good as I expected. I liked their second 2010 pilsner offering much better.

Nice orange color with some golden backdrop to it. The head is pretty minimal after a few pours from the growler, but looks just fine initially and off the tap. Tight, white bubbling with good lace.

The nose is, obviously, pretty hoppy. I get grapefruit and other citrus, with only a small dose of sweet malt to back it up. The flavor is pretty consistent - even after a week the hops still bring it, which is nice. Not quite as superb as the first, but still a good glass of beer.

Had this on cask at the Horse Brass pub. It did pale in comparison to the Brew Dog Blue Dot but was still a nice beer.

An Orange/Copper amber color with a slight haze. Creamy finger of head that then produced wonder lacing everywhere.

Aroma was a little more muted than I had expected. Still nice. Floral, some cracker/bread tones and a touch of pine.

Lots of pine flavors and lots of fruity esters. More on the pine side with the hop flavors and somewhat juicy. Again, I got lots of crisp cracker flavors. Pretty good.

Mouth feel was smooth and body was medium/light.

Nicely drinkable, but it was time to move onto some larger hop bombs. Not a bad choice, but there are better.

On tap at the Rose & Crown in Palo Alto, CA. This was sort of against my better judgment, as I haven't had a good fresh hop ale this season, and because Full Sail is almost entirely disappointing lately. I shared some with Arne (alfrantzell) to confirm my impressions.

A: Comes a surprisingly dark amber, mostly clear with a slight haze. The head is an eggshell white that retains moderately and leaves a few trails of lacing down the sides of the glass.

S: Nothing. Really, nothing. Arne and I sniffed his beer to make sure our noses were working right... They were. There was just no aroma to behold from this brew. Not even the slightest bit of pungency.

T: Very malty. Toffee, bread, caramel. Some grassy and herbal hops in the taste, but they're almost an afterthought. I don't quite grasp how this is supposed to be a hop showcase.

M: Medium body. Lightly dry finish aided by moderate carbonation. Does pretty well, but it has no flavor to support.

D: Meh. I've reached the stage where if I have a bad Full Sail, it's really my own fault.

On tap at Barley & Hops in Temecula. Appearance was a clear orange. Smell did not come off as "fresh" to me, not like most wet hopped beers. This one smelled old and kinda like an average pale ale. The taste was grainy, metallic, and again, the hops tasted old. Just didn't enjoy this overall. After a day of having Sculpin IPA, Russian River IPA and Blind Pig, this was just a relatively lame hoppy beer.

Lupulin Fresh Hop
A growler from the brewery in Hood River. Pours reddish amber with a good-sized white
head and lacings. Aroma is floral hops and sweet malts. Taste is big bitter hops with a good amount of sweet malts. Bitterness wins by a large margin. Pretty enjoyable for one glass but a follow-up pour was too much for my taste buds.
Palate was bitter.
Website says 5.8% and 70 IBU. Fall Seasonal on tap only.
I can appreciate big hop beer but this one was amazingly bitter.

Tap @ Johnny Brown's. Pours clear orange-gold with ashort white head. The metallic and peppery hop aroma characteristic of the English variety of IPA. Bitter, veggie hop taste that was tempered a bit by the sweeter malt. Some citrus and grapefruit came out towards the middle of the pint, but it retained its bitter character. I'm not big on the English IPA, but this was quite enjoyable.