Hop City Imperial IPA
Deschutes Brewery

 

On cask at the Portland Brewpub.

A - Served a cloudy pale orange with a huge cream colored head. Good retention and lots of lacing left on the glass.

S - The pine hits hard, followed by grass, floral tones, and some citrus.

T - Lots going on here. Pine, grass, melon, citrus, floral.

D - Good carbonation and a thinner body. No bitterness at all.

O - I really enjoyed this one. Glad to finally have the chance. I have been disappointed with the One-offs from Decshutes lately, but this was a winner.

 

Appears gold orange in color. There is a very small layer of white foam on top.

It smells strongly of citrus. There is a strong crisp grapefruit smell to it. There is also a grassy smell and a bit of a floral smell. It has a great strong hops dominated smell. I could smell this beer all day.

It tastes much like it smells. There is a strong citrus flavor: I get mostly grapefruit but I also get a bit of an orange zest flavor as well. There is an herbal grass hop flavor to the beer. The beer is quite bitter. There is a mild malt sweet flavor that balances the hoppy characteristics of the beer. Unlike many IPAs and IIPAs I have had from Deschutes this beer is much more hop centric then malt centric. Though the malt favor is not dominating there beer has a nice balance to it.

The carbonation is mellow. I would say it is about medium.

The drinkability is pretty good. It is a fairly smooth beer though it is quite bitter.

This is a pretty good double IPA. Worth trying if you feel like a good hop centric double IPA.

appearance - medium amber, excellent transparency, narrow lacing

smell - pineapple, citrus, floral hop aroma

taste - big hop profile, citrus and pineapple shine, some combination of cascade and centennial hops it felt like

mouthfeel - medium carbonation, medium body

drinkability - amazingly fresh hops, delicious taste profile, another very fresh and great tasting ipa from deschutes

Growler from Deschutes.

Pours a orange with strong clarity and a booming white head that eventually leaves a nice layer atop the glass. Thick lacing down the glass as its drank. Aroma is tropical fruit, alcohol and lemon. Flavor is more tropical fruit, sweet candied hops, a little alcohol burn and leaves a residual bitterness and heat in your mouth. The flavors are very coating and I'm constantly burping hops. Its medium to full bodied with a light amount of carbonation. I really enjoyed this brew but its a little hot. The hops are the most prominent in the flavor as the aroma is a strong mixture of tropical fruit and alcohol. This was the Portland Pub's new brewer's version of the Hop Henge which he tweaked a little but I personally enjoy the hop character of this better than Hop Henge.