Took me a few sips to appreciate where this beer was going, but now I love it. I wish that there was more aromatic hops, but I appreciate the earthy (almost fresh hop) and lemon zest in the taste. I have always appreciated Hop Dish for taking steps outside the trending hop profile and similarly I like this for the same reasons. But I have read that this is 100+ IBUs, but I just don't see that.
I gave it my best. I'm not terribly thrilled. I don't think there is an existing hop trend to really speak of. Mosaic? Citra? Citrus? Pungent? Soup du jour? There has always been wide, rangy variety. I most certainly can dig on piney IPAs, but the house yeast kills this for me. Tastes too much like Summit. Kinda like all Sierra Nevada brews taste like SN brews or Lagunitas beers taste like Lagunitas beers. It was a good try, but they aren't a mind boggling brewery, to be honest.
I get what you are saying about Sierra Nevada, at least for their first 15+ years, but I think that they have broken out of that. Lagunitas, I think has more similarities based on malt use than anything else. But I do not think that Summit is locked in that much. Just look at Saga (OMG, did I just bring up Saga!). There is no way that a blind tasting that included Saga would ever have somebody guessing Summit as the brewery. But as far as this bear; what I meant by trending hop profile is intense grapefruit citrus or resiny pine, all with insanely heavy aromatics. This beer is a nice step away from that.
I had my 2nd on the 4 pack last night. For whatever reason I felt it drank much better straight out of the can, I really enjoyed it.
I shared a couple of cans last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got a lot of peach notes out of it and not over the top bitter. Very easy drinking, a nice change from all the other IPA's out there. Different- in a good way! Will definitely get some more!
I find every beer I drink tastes better straight from the can. If it comes in a can, and I pour it into a glass, it's most likely so I can drink it faster/take bigger gulps. From a can, it forces me to drink slower in order to avoid the can glugging, and plus I can still smell 100% of the aroma.
I was pleasantly pleased to taste that they didn't just make a double Saga. I found it to be tasty, something I could drink, but not really something I find myself wanting a lot more of. I'm elbows deep in awesome seasonal DIPAs right now, including Abrasive, and Silo didn't really hook me hard enough to make more room in my fridge for it.
Had my first can last night and wasn't that into it. Drinking a second today, and really enjoying it. The earth, the zest, the balancing sweetness. Tasty.
Could of sworn there was another Hop Silo thread in this forum but cannot find it. But in that thread someone said, paraphrasing "It is not double Saga, but a double EPA". I totally get that as well. I enjoy it and have gone through a couple 4-packs already. Easy to do at Summit prices.
Right on....a lot of peach and really an easy drinking DIPA which I enjoy....the massiveness of flavor on some overwhelms me at times and for instance I usually only drink one can of Abrasive at a sitting...not because of the alcohol but just the immense, concentrated flavor.....this one I am drinking two tonight and easily could session this whole 4-pack. I guess that makes it dangerous as the ABV's are close but I find this very enjoyable in its own way....love the peach, apricot notes...
I don't drink a lot of Summit (probably because it's ubiquitous and I can have it anytime) but I picked up a quad of Hop Silo last week. I was absolutely blown away with the first can. I poured it into a tulip chalice. It tasted like Abrasive, but with a sprinkle of malt to balance it out. I really, really enjoyed that beer. I will say that the hop profile dies out towards the bottom of the glass. I had my second last night, drunk straight from the can, and it didn't seem as enjoyable to me. I'll have another one out of the chalice tonight just to be sure I still feel the same way about it.
I'm not a huge Summit fan to begin with, certainly not in the Saga Mafia, but I really enjoyed Hop Silo. I will be drinking it again this weekend. Good taste at a very reasonable price for a Double IPA.
