Hop Ranch or DirtWolf

Keith,

I have not had the recent Hop Ranch version yet but last January I bought three 4-packs of Hop Ranch and I was not a fan; too much dank for my palate. I actually purposefully aged the second and third 4-packs to see whether this beer would improve for me. The second 4-pack (at about 1-2 months) was more pleasing but still too much dank. The third 4-pack (about 3-4 months old) had a winey character to it that I didn't really like.

I am a HUGE fan of DirtWolf. I have bought at least 2 cases of DirtWolf this year (maybe 3?). As a homebrewer I typically do not buy beer by the case but I make an exception for DirtWolf.

Cheers!

 

Love Hop Ranch. Don't care for Dirtwolf.

 

Dirtwolf is by far the superior beer to me.

Hop Ranch, while not necessarily a bad beer, was extremely boring to me. Nothing about that beer popped or was memorable at all. And before I get asked...yes, the bottles I had were very fresh.

 

Without trying Hop Ranch again this year, I prefer Dirt Wolf. Last year, each bottle of Hop Ranch started great for me, but then got too oniony for me. Will try again this year and compare though...

 

Frankly, I can't really pick one over the other, I enjoy them both for different reasons, but I also have not yet done a side-by-side so....

However, in my case at least I'm not really thinking the fact that Hop Ranch is seasonal bumps it up, even if only because most all of the cases I buy are seasonal (helps guarantee freshness) and I've had a multi-year regular rotation of seasonals going for some years now (e.g., Jan-Feb will be Nugget Nectar, Feb-Mar will be Founder's Red's Rye, which I fell in love with long before they moved it to seasonal) so seasonality has pretty much lost its effect (if it ever had any).

 

To be completely honest, I am not a Dirt Wolf fan. Know plenty of people who are, but I just can't get through a bottle of it. Want to try this year's Hop Ranch though when it makes it's way here.

 

Was at Victory on Monday and tried both side by side. I'm a Hop Ranch fan.

 

too late to add a poll?

 

Agreed. Dirtwolf shows the alcohol more, but I still prefer it.

 

+1

 

I haven't had either since last year, but I know that right now, Hop Ranch has it for freshness. It seems that I prefer Hop Ranch (4.16/-1.4%) to Dirt Wolf's (3.63/-15.4%). However, HR was from a bottle, and DW was on tap, right around its debut.

Also, I'm pretty sure I know what @Shroud0fdoom would say here. Bring over a fresh DW next time.

 

I have a month and a half old DirtWolf in the fridge. Hop Ranch was banging though, on tap at the Victory Brewpub.

Edit: Hop Ranch for being 9% was too damn drinkable! DirtWolf is my goto DIPA when I can find it inside its Drink By date.

 

I haven't had this year's Hop Ranch yet, but last year I much preferred it over Dirt Wolf. That said, Dirt Wolf is an outstanding beer and I am not trying to take anything away from it.

 

I need try this years Hop Ranch to refresh my memory, but I'm guessing Dirt Wolf will still come out on top and by a wide margin. I just picked up an eight day old case of Dirt Wolf on Monday and damn is it good. Difficult to find fresh at times, so much so that I almost wish it was the seasonal offering. I'm with @drtth, I love knowing I can my favorite hoppy offerings fresh, even if only once a year.

 

Have you tried the latest Enjoy By, Jack? It kind of reminded me of Hop Ranch- the quality I get from those hops is a combo of dank/oniony, but I still like it . I can see people favoring either way, though- either too dank or too oniony.

Overall Dirt Wolf is my preference, though, mostly because I can't see drinking something that's even slightly oniony all the time.

 

Is it weird that it took me over a year to notice the wolf on the label?

 

I suppose I like them both about the same, possibly dirtwolf a little more. They're pretty different. The Ranch I recall being juicier, more approachable, and the wolf is just hard hitting with the hops. I would rather them bring back hop wallop, i prefer it more than both of these.