Seriously underwhelmed by Hopslam

FWIW: Alpine Exponential Hoppiness is the greatest IPA I've ever had the pleasure of putting my lips around.

 

It bummed me out this past release. The previous was good. It is a weird beer - totally different every batch.

 

Don't know if I would go this far...but I agree for the most part. I prefer Nelson over Hopslam.

 

I've had at least 30 gallons of Nelson. Hopslam maybe a case. Maybe I need more samples....

 

Sounds like you have a case of what is known as Lupulin Threshold Shift combined with not having spent time with the reviews before buying. Hopslam has lots of hop flavor without tongue rasping bitterness and is very consistent from year to year.

 

You mentioned this beer is balanced. You mentioned this beer hides its alcohol well.

What's the problem again you say...?

You described a style of beer that tends to have stylistic faults such as being alcoholic an unbalanced. This beer is a fantastic interpretation of a IIPA.

 

zombie dust is just as good but then again...
"Is it me or is this years black note thinner and more artificial tasting since the bottled it in 12ozers and distributed it?"

 

I don't know if I'd buy a case of anything before trying it at least a couple of times.

Hey at least you didn't drop $600 on a case of over-hyped wine.

 

@ OP: You learned your lesson semantics aside and you should move on. So could others but then what fun would the forums be?

@ kzoobrew, crossvert: While many elements present might not seem obvious, or conversely many elements absent might seem present in a blind tasting, I have found that honey can indeed be tasted. In fact I have picked honey in beers and later found out that they did indeed use honey (Event Horizon and, more recently, BoT come to mind). And I am not talking about aromatics only.

 

goandsendittomebro....??

 

Wow! If that were friggin possible I'd be out getting my own trade case right now! Heady kicks Hopslam in the nuts!

 

Being unbalancedly hop ferocious isn't a style flaw for IIPA, it is more like a style requirement for a fine one. From this site's style guidelines:

"you should expect something robust, malty, alcoholic and with a hop profile that might rip your tongue out."

 

^^^^^^^^^^
This reads like some kind of philosophical Yoda Jedi teaching.......

Disappointed you become when hype is your master. Hype is the path to the dark side. Hype leads to unrealistic expectation, unrealistic expectation leads to hate, hate leads to this thread........

You are like a beer Yoda!........some kind of Hop Jedi?............ Ob-eron Kenobi?

 

"<Insert beer that people like> isn't as <extreme flavor profile> as I thought it would be and I am disappointed because I can only derive pleasure from MOAR <extreme flavor profile>!!!" should just be a pinned thread.

 

Oh crap, thats not how this works? I thought for sure my tastebuds and sense of smell were directly connected to what the internet says! Learn something new everyday. haha

 

Absolutely, I've had the same experience with honey in beer. Honeys come in different flavors depending on where the bees gather their nectar. It contains a noticeable amount of non-fermentables, so even if all the sugar from the honey is gone the non-fermentables remain and there are often sugars from other sources (e.g. barley) present.

 

If one were to use Buckwheat honey in a beer, I think anyone could pick that out. Strong flavored, that Buckwheat is.

 

This goes back to that "some people like chocolate, some people like vanilla" point that is so frequently made on this site. Isn't this all just a matter of taste?

Sounds like you liked it fine. (And, did you really expect it to be better than Zombie Dust?? ZD is up there with only a handful of others, perhaps Hopslam is up there too - just not for you. I happen to like ZD better also, which is not to criticize Hopslam). Your description is one that is favorable - just not better or a favorite than others you may like better.

Truthfully, I'm not taking your comments as a negative on this one. I'm just taking your comments to mean that you like others better. (Some people like BMWs and some like Mercedes. Doesn't mean that one of them is not "good" or not worth their status/evaluation in the car community - same thing with beer. No?)

JMO

 

Indeed, and given my experience with a few varieities of honey (e.g., I have a particular fondness for Sourwood Honey), I doubt I could tell one generic honey from another when used in beer, but I'd bet on my ability to pick out a beer made with all Sourwood honey from one made with all Buckwheat honey unless the brewer deliberately set out to obscure those flavors rather than include them in the flavor profile. :-)