Beer Review: Shipyard XXXX IPA

Brew Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
Brewer: http://www.shipyard.com
ABV: 9.25%
BrewNewb Opinion: Decent beer

I love a good presentation, and I thought the foil wrapping around the cap was a nice touch. I was rather surprised to notice, after cracking the cap, that it was actually a twist off. I don't know why this struck me as odd, and frankly I never really thought much about the fact that I apparently associate twist off caps with crappy beer, much like wine that comes in screw-cap bottles. 

It isn't an association I established consciously, and perhaps it's not a fair one. However, I can't seem to help it. There is no good rational reason for it, except that all the crappy beers use twist offs. Maybe in my head, the good beers decided not to, to further distance themselves from their crappy counter parts... Who knows. 

Anyway, this beer poured from the pint bottle into my Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass, a nice amber peachy color. This frothy head with a good lacing. 

The smell was a little surprising. It was a bit too complex, with too many hoppy smells coupled with the smell of the alcohol. (Which is hard to avoid at 9.25%!)

The taste, like the smell was a little bit of a disappointment to me. I love a solid IPA, but I feel like they tried to do too much with this one. Too many flavors, and too much ABV. I tasted mostly caramel malt and alcohol that completely dwarfed the various hops. I would have liked to see them use either fewer hops, for a strong hops flavor in one direction or another, or less alcohol. 

All in all, not a bad beer, though it's not what I expected out of an IPA. Perhaps a barleywine?  

Be Hoppy IPA by Wormtown Brewing - @WormtownBrewery FANTASTIC beer!

Brew Style: IPA
Brewer: http://www.wormtownbrewery.com
ABV: 6.5%
BrewNewb Opinion: Excellent beer!

My now #1 favorite beer of all time, and another great beer from my home state of MA! This beer recently dethroned Jack's Abby's Hoponiuos Union (which I still love, by the way!) as my very favorite brew. 

I cracked open this bottle, and sniffed. LOTS of charcter coming through that bottle neck! Hints of floral and citrus hops got my mouth watering. 

I poured into my Sam Adams pint glass, it poured a hazy orange, nice head that stuck around a good long while. As the bubbles in the body settled, I noticed flakes... Now, I'm no stranger to craft beer, but I've never seen the like. 


It's tough to see in the pic there, but those flakes on the bottom where pure white. Now, I'm not afraid of lees, it's actually quite good for you, but I was little unnerved by this. 

However! I'll drink just about anything. Secure in the knowledge that it's likely some yeast... thing... funny kinda fermenting side effect... And hell, it's stewed in alcohol, so it's likely not going to be toxic. I drank it. It was fine. 

The taste of this ambrosial nectar is sweet floral and citrus hops at first, backed by a caramel bready backbone. Great balance, excellent piney hoppy finish. Went down nice, wasn't heavy... GREAT beer. 

Port Brewing Hop-15 Ale

Image stolen right
off their website.

Brew Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
Brewer:  http://www.portbrewing.com/our-beers/hop-15/
ABV: 10%
BrewNewb Opinion: Good Beer!


I poured this badly. I went a little too fast, into my over-sized Samuel Adams glass... The head came up fast, and I had to suck some ... uh, I'm not saying head there... Foam down real fast, or I was going to wear it. 


That said, the foam was quite promising. 


I let it relax a bit, and finished topping off the glass. 


Could QUITE fit it all, so I drank the end of what was left in the bottle. Lots of malt, and I could taste the alcohol though it's shrouded by bitterness and maybe a little metallic taste. I like it. 


The glass, very hazy orange. Translucent, but only a little. Enough to see floaties in the mix there. Probably dead yeast and what have you... "Lees" as it's called. 


Low carbonation, Syrupy. The after taste is mostly alcohol, some malt, not as much bitterness as I like in an IPA, and a little more floral than I care for. 


All in all, a good beer. 

#atozchallenge - Ithica Brewing's Flower Power IPA Beer Review

Brew:  IPA
Brewer:  http://ithacabeer.com/flower-power/
ABV: 7.5%
Opinion: Great Beer! 

Today I will finish the last of the brews I bought for reviews, and that group consists of ipas. I am excited, I love ipa.

Flower Power came highly recommended by a couple of folks of taste, so I am looking greatly forward to this.

The scent is potent, a nice "bouquet" of floral and pine hops. This beer smells good. It poured a cloudy orange with very little head. The scent is only that much better from the glass.

First sip, an excellent blend of citrus, floral and pine hops, the floral being only a little more prevalent than the other two. The second sip was equally tremendous. The after taste is a nice pine reminder of a moment ago when I was swallowing a terrific beer. Those were good times... good times...

This is a great beer.

A to Z Blog Challenge Beer Review - Hopdevil Ale by Victory

Brew:  IPA
Brewer:  http://victorybeer.com/beers/hopdevil/
ABV: 6.7%
Opinion: Good Beer! 

Normally I do some kinda narrative as I open the bottle, yada yada... Truth here is I was so eager to taste this, being called "hopdevil" and all, and I'm such a fan of the bitter hops... one might call me a hop-head. Hmm... that might have been a better name for this site, huh? Anyway...

I had high hopes here. Hopdevil... Gotta be good, right?!

Begrudgingly, I will admit, yes, it's a good beer. However, I think it would have been better named something else. I expected something else I guess. I really love bitter piney hops. This left me disappointed.

I know it isn't fair. On it's own merit this is a good beer. A mild IPA, for sure... In fact, "India" and "Pale" are very feint on the label, but "Ale" is just as prominent as "HopDevil"... It's like, they made an IPA, that came out like just a good ale...

This is a good beer, I would drink this again, I think I was just expecting something else. Not to say something BETTER... Just something else. It's like rating milk when you expected orange juice.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is Fantastic!

Picture stolen from here.

We had company today, and while I was out picking up supplies before they came, I treated myself to a FOUR-pack of Dogfish Head's 90 minute IPA.

I told myself on the ride home, "I will wait until the company is gone. While they are here, I will drink the other stuff I have, and... wait no, I want to do the review level headed... I'll drink coffee. ...eh... Maybe not, I'll... just... wait for them to leave...

That didn't happen of course, and I'm finishing the last of the four pack right now, so please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors.

This beer is fanF*ckingTastic.

Now, you only get four of these, so be prepared to be able to appreciate each and every one of them. This isn't a "Hey, the guys are coming over to forget about life so we're going to chug and get hammered and do keg stands!" No. You drink garbage-beer for that stuff. This is a "I want something that tastes incredible and loves me back as much as I live it."

I cracked a bottle, and poured it in my sexy Samuel Adams mug that the 99 restaurant unknowingly donated to me, (and I'll publicly deny having ever mentioned anything about it and say you hacked my website and put that fraudulent, slanderous information on here, and then posted this part of this post pretending to be me denying having removed said glass from their location, trying to throw you off my own trail ) but realized that one 12oz. beer filled a 16oz. glass poorly, and poured a bit of the second bottle in the glass as well, and then finished the bottle...

So the bottle, being my first sip: excellent balance of citrus, floral, and just plain good piney hoppy hops.

The glass: good creamy head stays with it for a long while. The hops really hit in the taste, very nicely balanced, as I said before... but it bares repeating...

My FAVORITE part of this beer is the fact that it's NINE-FREAKIN-PERCENT. That's right 9% which makes up for the fact that it's only a 4 pack, because in Bud Light standards, a 4 pack of this is like a 12 pack, and doesn't taste like ass.

I LOVE IPA, and this is what I wish I could drink all day, every day. This has the perfect drinkability, and an excellent after taste with a great nose-tingling burp.

I am currently only about 1/3 of the way finished with the 4th, but I feel like I've had at least six or seven Sam Adams.