First Hopslam.

I discussed my first time drinking a can of Hopslam earlier today in the New Beer Sunday thread:

Let’s ‘Slam a Can!!

It’s that time of the year again: Bell’s Hopslam was recently released.

First let me provide a BIG thank you to a good friend who gifted me with this can.

I have had this beer a few times before on draft but this is a first for me in several ways:

• My first time drinking this beer from a can
• My first time drinking this beer so fresh

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I suspect that the second bullet is likely a more important aspect. All of my previous drinking experiences were at least one month after the release timeframe and in all probability a couple of months. For hoppy beers, time is not an ally for peak of beer drinking flavor.

Permit me to first discuss some history about Hopslam and how this beer was distributed in the recent past. The Wholesale Distributor for Bell’s in Southeastern Pennsylvania is Shangy’s in Emmaus, PA. Shangy’s also has a license to be a retailer (what we call a Retail Beer Distributor in PA). Well, Shangy’s the Wholesaler would provide the majority of Hopslam to Shangy’s the Retailer since their records indicate they were the largest seller of Bell’s beer. Does this have the appearance of the fox guarding the henhouse to you? Well, the net result was very little Hopslam was distributed to non-Shangy’s retailers. Most craft beer drinkers would drive to Shangy’s in Emmaus to purchase one case of Hopslam. There was a rule of only one case per car so carpooling was disallowed. This was how craft beer Extreme Exuberance was practiced then. Today you get to wait in lines for hours at beer releases like they have weekly at Tired Hands.

In case anybody was curious, I never drove up to Emmaus to buy a case of Hopslam. Between gas and tolls (PA Turnpike) that was too much money for me (also the travel time would have been several hours).

It probably is not necessary to discuss the hype associated with Hopslam but needless to say this is a highly sought after beer and folks are willing to pay BIG BUCKS to buy this beer.

Below is the description for Hopslam from BA:

“Starting with six different hop varietals added to the brew kettle & culminating with a massive dry-hop addition of Simcoe hops, Bell's Hopslam Ale possesses the most complex hopping schedule in the Bell's repertoire. Selected specifically because of their aromatic qualities, these Pacific Northwest varieties contribute a pungent blend of grapefruit, stone fruit, and floral notes. A generous malt bill and a solid dollop of honey provide just enough body to keep the balance in check, resulting in a remarkably drinkable rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style.”

I will not discuss my previous drinking experiences with Hopslam since as I noted above they were less than fresh.

Drum roll please!! How does a fresh can of Hopslam taste?

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass

Appearance:

Golden colored with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

The dominant aroma is citrus but there is some sweetness there as well. Kinda reminds me of candy orange slices.

Taste:

The flavor pretty much follows the nose. There is citrus accompanied by sweetness. There is a firm bitterness as well. There is just a very tiny bit of alcohol perception here.

Mouthfeel:

Nicely carbonated, medium body with a soft mouthfeel.

Overall:

I enjoyed drinking this beer. It was on the hairy edge of being too sweet for my palate but it did not cross the line.

I think that folks who are aficionados of the DIPA beer style would enjoy this beer more than me. When it comes to hoppy beers my personal preference are IPAs. I sometimes find DIPAs to be too cloying. As I mentioned above Hopslam approached that aspect.

This one can will suit me for 2017. Maybe I will drink one can next year too?

 

Bought a 6er in Auburn ,Alabama 2 days ago. It flew off the shelves and may be gone now. I thought it was differnt with the honey backbone to it. Not bitter or boozey. I like my ipas to be heavy on the citrus side and light on the malt.

 

It's very good, but there are better beers that are much more available.

 

Saw 8-9 cases (192-216 cans) worth of this in one shop in Springfield, MO about 4 days ago, but I refuse to pay $18 for a 6-pack when I could buy double the amount of a solid IPA from one of the local brewers. It may be good, but it had better be the best IPA ever created for that amount of money.

 

Had my first hopslam last weekend....

I liked it and thought it was very good. However, I did find it to be a bit boozy - and yes I know it's over 10 percent and yes, I have had beers over 10 percent in the past that I didn't find as boozy.

It actually got in my head how boozy I found it, so by the time I got to the last of my 6 pack (19.99 by the way) I kept tasting the booziness.

Also some places near me, and I bet places near you, are selling it for $5.99 a can - and that is highway robbery. I realize supply/demand bla bla bla, but that is criminal and I feel like going off on the owners of the store for that.

 

I had this for the first time in 2015. I didn't know much about it then, only that it was hyped to hell and back. I picked up a six-pack (bottles, which they were keeping behind the counter) without asking the price, then experienced some major-league butt-hurt when I got to the checkout. I didn't find it enjoyable at all and wound up giving most of it to my friends. I got a couple of singles (cans) last year and thought it was quite a bit better. This year I was able to find only one can, in the singles cooler, canned exactly one week before. These were my impressions:

I'm at 5's across the board on this because there isn't anything about it that I'd change. I think the honey gives it a unique character that distinguishes it from other DIPA's. Admittedly, I didn't drink the 2015 right away, and I got the 2016 at an out-of-town grocery store a few weeks past the release date. The fact that the 2017 was ultra-fresh and kept under refrigeration may have made all the difference.

 

I strongly suspect that is indeed the case.

Cheers!

 

What a coincidence, I gave four people their first Hopslam beer last night, but first, my store about finding this beer.

I was student teaching during the last release of Hopslam. While I was still fairly new to the limited-release world of craft beer, I knew a few to look for. I'd stop at a grocery store on my way home and see what new beers they had gotten in during the week, or if there were any hidden gems in their mix-six shelf. As I'm paying, I happen to see boxes with a logo I vaguely recognize from the What Beer are you Drinking Now thread, so I ask her if I may have one. She rings me up, and to my surprise it's $20 for the 6 pack. I figure why not, let's go. I got home and opened one up a few hours later and holy heck! I loved it. I had poured in into a snifter, and enjoyed every bit of that beer. What made my appreciation for Hopslam even more astounding was I really didn't enjoy IPAs, let alone DIPAs, when I tried Hopslam. I went back the next day to buy more, but they were all out. I cherished those 6 cans and drank them as fresh as I could without slamming them all in one night. This year, I bought two 6 packs, and even have the Hopslam glass.

As for supplying some others with their first Hopslam experience: I visited friend's last night, and we opted to do a beer of the month. Everyone brings a six-pack, and we all drink one beer from each pack at the same time. Sorta like a less nerdy bottle share, considering most beverages are drank from the bottle/can, and the offerings are usually sub-$10 6 packs. I know someone I could snag another 6 pack from, so I sent them a message and was able to pick up a 6 pack of Hopslam for the share. We ended up drinking it second (behind Shiner's Cold Brew stout), and everyone very much enjoyed it. We all consumed it from the can as well. I couldn't help but giggle to myself looking around the room and seeing Hopslam cans with the bottom half forming condensation as we all took sips straight from the can and chatted. Perhaps that don't know how much is cost, or that I called in a favor, but they enjoyed it.

 

I had my first a week or so ago, and was blown away. I wouldn't consider myself a big IPA/DIPA fan, but that was a great beer. Now there are probably a few better beers out there, but few are so widely sold year in and year out. Bells beers are like a set bar. They are what other beers are judged against in my mind.

I've since shared my one 6er with a few people who'd never had it before, sharing the wealth. Each of them have came back to me raving about the beer, asking where they could get more.

 

I finally got to try this beer after being a whale for yrs, only thing that really impressed me was the dry body on a 10% hop syrup bomb, not sweet at all, most likely from the honey ( which also prolly helped boost that abv), I've had alot of DIPA'S that have the malt/hop ratio perfect and havent had one that don't come off at least a little too thick and cloying, guess honey does the trick

 

My first Hopslam was about 7 years ago. I just started taking a serious interest in beer and frequenting this site. I read about Hopslam on here. Of course we don't get Bell's in NJ. I bought it on eBay.
When I got it I expected a life changing experience. I was so disappointed. About the same time I bought my first Pliny on eBay as well. The Pliny blew my mind.

This experience probably jaded my attitude towards Hopslam. Every year I acquire a couple. I'm always underwhelmed. Probably not Hopslam's fault. It could never live up to my initial expectations.
I do love the logo though.

 

I think all of us appreciate specific IPAs or DIPAs a lot more if the hops used in the beer happen to be our favorite(s), and to me, the Citra and Amarillo that are used in Pliny make that a sublime beer, but the Centennial and Mosaic (I think) that are used in Hopslam don't sweep me off my feet. I think it's the mild honey flavor that makes Hopslam different, so I just appreciate that beer for that flavor. It is a damn good beer, and especially so if you get is fresh on tap somewhere.

 

If you were to homebrew a DIPA using a 'boat load' of hops and augmented the fermentables with honey, do you think you would notice the honey flavor with all of those flavor/aroma hops (including dry hopping) in that beer?

Cheers!

 

I am amazed how good some of your memories are. I don't recall when I had my first Hopslam, probably close to the time it first came out. I usually have a few every year. I know I had my LAST Hopslam (thus far) Sat. night.

 

I do think this is a great beer but to semi-echo what someone else said, there are much better beers that are more easily available and I'd like to add much cheaper.

 

Y'know, that's a good question. I know that it's hard to get a moderate honey flavor into a beer so it becomes a balancing act to use just enough hops to allow the honey taste to come through, and Bell's has done it. Maybe it's th honey that they use and maybe it has a stronger flavor than most types of honey. I don't know.

Thinking further about that flavor in Hopslam, it may be a subliminal suggestion that the sweet flavor is honey just because we all know that the beer contains honey. In reality it could well be just the sweetness that many of us experience when we drink a beer that has been hopped extensively.

 

I too can get a good IPA for half the price. A six of great DIPA is hard to find at $9.00 a six pack though.

Buy a single can and give it a try. It is pricey, but I enjoy my yearly six pack or two.

 

Hopslam is good, I buy it when I see it in January because I can usually only get one 6 pack before its sold out anyway.

Kind of a post Christmas treat.

 

This is basically how I felt about it. The reputation that Hopslam had on this site did not meet or exceed my personal expectations. Perhaps that's my problem for putting the beer on such a high pedestal. That being said though it was still a good beer just not something I would get again.