Hopgasm India Pale Ale
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant

-Spiegelau ipa glass.

A: Bright tangerine orange color has a dense nature and a soft presence of carbonation. A light, dirty white head is bready and lapses rather quickly to a skim coating. A nice sheet lacing covers the glass fully.

S: Juicy citrus and grapefruit is fresh and wet, breakfast juice-like. Tangerine, melon and peach are fruity highlights. There's some fresh grassy-caramel sweetness of moderate strength.

T: Flavor is fruity with nuances of peach and tropical pineapple. A bittering touch of semi-dry citrus and grassiness. The backing is toasted specialty grains with a spicy flowery bite. A toasted warmth of citrus and grassy hops concludes.

M: Thick and juicy mouthful, is sticky and full bodied, full of hop resins gives this a big sticky feel. Carboantion takes a back seat here to the sticky, juicy texture.

O: A nice level of fruity flavor that progresses to a citrus dry hopping. Generously hopped, the finish had a touch of mildew hops, parching bitterness, flowery with a good smack of ibus. Decent blend, but hardly orgasmic, the complexity was not was wide or intense as expected by name. At the finish there was a bit of alcohol twang of tangerine-citrus.

 

 

 

Manayunk Brewing Co. "Hopgasm India Pale Ale"
16 fl. oz. can without production coding or freshness dating
$2 @ Weis, Conshohocken, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: Finger-thick head of off white foam over a slightly hazy golden-amber body. It's interesting, I can see a 'cloud' of haze slowly dissolving into the clearer beer at the bottom of the glass. Maybe I shouldn't have poured those last few drops. Anyway, the aroma is not nearly as bright as I thought it might be and now I'm wondering how old this really is? I get some seemingly toasty malt with orange marmalade, a hint of pine, something like pineapple rind - not pineapple or pineapple juice, although there's a touch, but really like the outside of the pineapple, and some grapefruit, pit, and earth. The flavor follows but it's a little wider with some more tropical flavors (mango, papaya, peach) and the gentle sweetness of the malt livens it a bit and helps to round out some of the more vegetal, mineralish, and earthy notes. It's bitter but not too bitter, and balanced against the malt that's there. Still, it finishes dry and bitter with citrus pith, minerals, and earthiness lingering. It's medium bodied and gently crisp. Overall it's a little bit too much, with so much going on at the same time that it gets a little muddled. On the other hand, if what you want is a blunt, heavily handed semi-West coast hop bomb this is it.

 

 

16 oz can, no date

Clear bright golden color, thin white head. Decent lacing. Pine, citrus hop aroma. Medium bitterness level, biscuit malt balance. Thinner bodied, crisp

 

 

 

Pours a relatively-clear-and-vibrant dark orange color with a massive and lasting tan-tinted head that eventually leaves thick, clumpy lacing.

Light nectarine and cantaloupe hops hit first in the aroma, with a much bigger pine scent taking over as the head starts to dissipate, with some honey-like malt sweetness in there, too. Impossible to know how fresh this is as there's no "canned on" or "best by" date, but I'm not picking up any of the tropical foundation mentioned on the label.

Bitterness smacks you right up front in the taste, classic West Coast style. There's a little malt profile in there, too, a touch of honey sweetness again and a little nuttiness, but it's far behind. Bitterness lingers in the aftertaste.

It's fairly light bodied with a somewhat prickly mouthfeel. Not all that artfully done, honestly. I might try it again if I see it on tap, but I'm likely to buy another 4-pack.