Hop Project #34
Yazoo Brewing Company

Pours grapefruit coloured, mildly cloudy. Generous retained head, 3/8" head. Mildly hoppy aroma. High IBU, feels 75, and erases some palate. Big alpha from Warrior and then Sorachi, which also lends a taste of lemon. Good, though a tad of sourness in the finish. A tad above average mouthfeel. Good hop mix in this one.
Bottle from Sliver X, thanks!

The pour was typical of your good, solid IPA's with a nice and slightly hazy, golden amber appearance. Nice carbonation could be seen streaking up toward the surface and a nice pillow of white dropped on top and stayed for a good few minutes before finally settling down with a decent amount of side glass lace.

The aroma was loaded down with fresh hops. Nice touches of grapefruit and pine, light bready notes as it warmed and an all over fresh type of profile. Clean and crisp, the first sip went down with ease. Nice sharp and contrasting bite of floral hops quickly wet the tongue before fading back into a mellow, light biscuit like flavor that seemed to linger long after the rest had gone. Nice and light, with good carbonation kept me drinking this easily as the glass emptied quicker and quicker.

A= Poured hazy yellow/orange in color. Nice head and left a little lacing.

S= I picked up on some citrus hops in this beer, I also smelled some pine hops they where faint but where there.

T= Decent taste the citrus and pine came out a little stronger in the taste than in the nose but it was by no means a "hop bomb" overall pretty decent though.

M= Medium bodied beer, kind of medium carbonation.

D= Drinkability was good wasn't to strong of beer could have a few of these no problem and had a good taste.

Amber colored beer with a thick lasting head. Thick lacing covered the sides of the glass. Aroma was a bit underwhelming considering the name of the beer. Not bad by any means but my nose wasn's saying hop bomb as I took some deep breaths to inhale the hoppiness. I smelled some piney hops and some herbal aromas.
What the beer lacked in the volumn in the aroma it more than made up for in the flavor department. It was a bit of a different take on an IPA and I appreciate that. It had the usual citrus, and piney flavors but there was an unusual spiciness and herbal flavor that I really appreciated. The malt was there but this beer is all about the hops. This IPA isn't a smack you in the face hop bomb but what it lacks in power it compensates with complexity. If this beer was a boxer it would dance around the ring and jab you instead of delivering that one knock-out punch. Mouthfeel was good and the beer went down fast and left me wanting another. Thanks Merlin 48 for the chance to try this.

12oz bottled 3rd week of August 2010.

Pours semi-hazy copper/amber with a one-finger off white head that leaves a ring of lacing and recedes to a light foamy cap and ring.

Citrusy aroma of oranges and lemons, some grass and floral, caramel and bready malts to round it out. Good strength.

Flavor is some light citrus hops, orange, lemon, grapefruit, spicy hops, moderate caramel malt sweetness, moderate to good bitterness.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, slick, medium carbonation.

A very good IPA, but I did enjoy #35 a bit more.

Poured from the bottle into my Great Divide pint glass. Got this bottle in a trade with CurtisMcArthur.

A - Orange almost brown body with a small white head.

S - Pale malts with a hint of a perfume like hop smell

T - Hoppy taste up front that quickly gives way to a strange perfume like hop flavor. Maybe a bit nutty as well. I'm guessing the Sorachi hops are giving this flavor I'm tasting. Certainly unique but the more I have the less I like this

M - medium bodied, pretty dry finish for an IPA.

D - Not all that drinkable. At first it is ok but it starts to be difficult to drink half way through. Sorachi hops are pretty interesting and I'd like to try another brew that features them so I could really tell what they were contributing to this. The base beer seems pretty solid so I'd like to try other hop projects as well. However I don't care much for this one.

A cloudy dark amber beer. Has a big light tan head and nice lacing. Nice balanced nose between malty sweetness and piney hops. The flavor starts with a light caramel note and slides towards the piney hops mentioned earlier. But the hop note goes quickly from the pine to a strong tea character. quite easy to drink.

12oz bottle purchased from Riverside Beverage in Chattanooga $2. This was bottled the third week of August so it was about a month old. Dark amber color and a smell that to me was quite unremarkable. The taste however really stumped me. It was good and quite hoppy but the flavor was a strange herb that I could not place. I am sure it was the sorachi ace hops and I'm not sure I've tasted those before. It was really mind-bogglign as to what I was tasting. I drank it fast so I must have liked it!

From 12oz bottle.

Excellent pour with a good amount of head, the color is very dark amber with an almond head, thick with lacing glued to the glass.

Almost no aroma. What is there is hopcentric. The label says they're 'overwhelming' the malts with the hops. I don't think that's true in the taste, but certainly true in the aroma.

The taste is solid, I can't think of a better descriptor. It tastes solid, like a piece of wood. There are definate hop flavors, but the malt is not overwhelmed and layers the flavor nicely. There is little alcohol taste/bite, and the carbonation is a little light for what I've recently found in the style, but I like that it doesn't force the issue. Really an 'above average' brew.

(17th)

Hop Project is now finding its way to Knoxville, and I found a sixpack of this one at Earth Fare. Bottled the 3rd week of August, 2010, so it's still fresh. This version is brewed with Sorachi Ace and Warrior hops, as per brewery website. Appearance reveals a hazy medium amber body with a small, but sturdy, almond hued head. Good retention with some finely grained patchy lace.

Aroma is very grassy and earthy, with grapefruit rind and pine notes.

Mouthfeel has a medium body and carbonation with some creaminess on top of a resinous hop bite.

Taste is sharp and bitter hops, almost astringent. Grassy and earthy, like the aroma with identical notes of pine and citrus rind. No malt presence to balance, resulting in a hopcentrically bitter experience. Finishes with a dry and earthy bitterness.

This was my first Hop Project, but Yazoo is now shipping a few kegs and bottles to Knoxville, so I can plan on having a few more. Hop Project #35 was on tap at the Bearden Beer Market yesterday, but I missed it. An interesting series of IPA's.

Thanks to Brian for this one by way of Math Trade 2 BIF. Poured from a 12oz. dated August 16th (fresh as hell!!) into a Sam Adams perfect pint.

A: Standard pour yields a 1.5 finger creamy off-white head with average retention. Beer is an attractive semi-clear amber. Lacing is outstanding, layered and with great cling.

S: Nose is sweet and scintillating. Notes of citrus, vanilla beans, pine, and cream. Not the most aromatic but very enticing.

T: Pine, grass, grapefruit, and tree bark bitterness right off the bat. This beer is very one dimensional with a thin layer of cream in the back. Hops are resiny and sometimes astringent. Finish is more of the same with a big hop residue sticking to ever surface of the mouth on the aftertaste.

M: Light bodied and highly carbonated. Invigorating and lively in the mouth and on the palate. Finish is clean and aftertaste is extremely sticky.

D: This is a just-above-average IPA. Nose is sweet and unique and overall taste has a pleasant citrussy bitterness. Nothing to right home about but a very solid representation of the style.

Yazoo Brewery puts out their Hop Project a little bit different every year. This batch (#34), I had both on tap at their new location in the District and in bottle. Currently reviewing the bottle which was produced and bottled in July (3rd Week).

Color is a simple amber with some hues reminiscent of pink lady apples. Head is virtually non-existent and maintains no retention.

Smell is lager-esque and a touch of grass with faint hints of citric hops.

Taste is a strange mix of bitter, pine (but more like pine cones), and grass. Malts are a touch on the nutty side (on tap nuts were even more blown out tasting of walnuts, pecans and a touch of butter). The balance is off leaning towards bitter as the prevalent feeling/taste left on the tongue. Aftertastes hints caraamber/caramel malts but bitter overpowers.

Mouthfeel is medium but leaning heavier than a standard AIPA. Low ABV, however, I wouldn't say this is quite sessionable because it doesn't fit the style... Best bet would be to pair this brew with something with a light spice like some Mexican food. It's not fantastic by itself.