Hopness Monster
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant

 

 

 

 

I am banging through some Manayunk CANs this evening in furtherance of The CANQuest (tm), which frankly needs some love, having been neglected of late.

From the CAN: "The Place Where We Drink"; "Drink Local [inside an outline of the Commonwealth of PA]"; "There is something almost mythical about our intense Double IPA, Hopness Monster. The monstrous amount of floral citrus hops compliment the clean authentic Scottish malts. This elusive beast is extremely rare and is only released once each year. Make sure you catch a glimpse, and of course a taste, of this extraordinary creature before it disappears."

I love hearing the Crack! of a CAN being opened as one aspect of The CANQuest (tm) is its aural quality. I curbed my enthusiasm afterwards, though, and only did a gentle Glug. A swirl in the glass raised a finger of foamy, tawny head with decent retention that left some nice lacing in its wake. Color was Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose was pungent with grapefruit underlain by a slight earthiness, almost like their wet-hopped offering. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The taste was very much akin to their Wet Dreamin', with an intense citrus bitterness on the tongue, along with an earthiness like freshly-turned soil, but the difference here was that it was accompanied by a fusel heat. Man! These are the DIPAs that really put me to the test. I am a self-avowed hophead, but there are times that it comes on like muriatic acid on my tongue, worming its burning way into each weak, defenseless tastebud, of which I have many at this point. Phew. Having said all of that, this was probably the best beer that I had today. Finish was dry, slightly hot and quite bitter. I would not want a steady diet of this Monster, but I felt better for having tried it.