Bee Hoppy
CB Craft Brewers

This brew was served on tap at The Bee Hive Brew Pub in Canandaigua, New York. It arrived in a Three Heads Brewing pint glass, showing a toasty golden amber coloring. A solid, thick one finger head of crème brulee colored bubbles topped the liquid, showing good retention into sheeted, pockmarked lacing. Chill haze was noted, but no sediment was found. Carbonation appeared to be moderate. Our snouts picked up bright citric and heavy syrupy nectary hops, wax, starchy mashed potatoes, pale and watered red malts, light phenolic and chemical plastics, Styrofoam, lofty brown sugar sweetness, peachy fruitiness, heavy creamer, play dough, and warmed honey. With warmth a very raw, organic citric hop pellet and uncooked barley authenticity came more directly into the light. The flavoring included bittering citric and soapy hoppiness, raw almonds and cashews, nectarine and pear fruitiness, pale and amber malts, apple cider sweetness, dried brown leafiness, raw toffee, irony metallics, aluminum foils, paint, sarsaparilla root, sea salt, spicy plastics, black pepper and sweeter booze, tannic lemon tea, honey, rye bread, and slick margarine. The body was towards the lightest side of medium, while carbonation sat medium to high. Nice slurp and smack came to the edge of the lip, with tight and high creamy frothiness on the swirl around the mouth. The mouth was otherwise left wet, and efficiently puckered with astringency. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank well.

Overall, this brew, as are many, many house brews was contracted out and brew at the local producer CB’s (Custom Brewcrafters). This recipe, however, was of the owner’s original design, where she apparently used to exclusively use hops grown on her very own porch for each batch. We love that kind of love when it goes into something. Although we never experienced the joy of one of those batches, this batch, coming from CB’s, was very classically “CB’s” from the time it was set in front of us. Adapted for larger scale brewing, the beer comes out nicely on the other side. This remained true throughout both the aroma and flavoring, as you get this incredibly raw, homegrown authenticity to the primary ingredients; especially the hops. With those you get a wonderful bittering, floral, and true freshness to them. If we had one critique it would be that the beer was a bit light in feel, but not enough to detract significantly from its generous hopping. The carbonation, being on the higher side, actually aided this detriment, giving strength to that bitterness. This is an intensely raw and tasty beer.

On tap at the Beehive Brew Pub in Candandaigua, NY.

Pours a hazy honey tinted orange, with a one inch fluffy head, and good lacing down the glass.

Smells include pine, citrus, and honey.

The same taste here- a bit like the little, less-hoppy, brother of Hopslam. A little bit bitter, lots of grapefruit and orange flavor, a bit of pine. Very tasty.

Light to medium bodied, crisp mouthfeel, no alcohol presence, very drinkable.

One of CB's better IPAs, glad I got to try this one.