Mike Loves Beer

Name – Hoppy Boy
Country – United States
Type – American IPA

Another weekend in the books and another work week heading at us.  Attended Oktoberfest in Lantana on Sunday.  The event is always a good time and even better when a number of friends can enjoy.  So after a weekend of eating and drinking German I’m coming at you with an American IPA review.  Yeah you didn’t see that coming did you?  Well you probably did reading the name of the review.  But some people I think skip those.  So for those, bazinga!

Twisted Pine Brewing has been down in South Florida for a few months now but this is honestly my first time I’ve grabbed something from them.  Call me late to the party but you always know I’ll show up at the party.

Hoppy Boy is their American IPA that weighs in at 65 IBUs and 6.2% ABV.  I honestly don’t know many people that have tried it so I don’t have a lot to go off of right up front besides that.  I guess I’ll just dive on in.

It pours a hazy amber color into my pint glass.  It has a good sized, foamy white head on the top of the glass and leaves a nice amount of lacing on the glass as it subsides.

The nose is mostly piney hops but there are some hints of citrus in there as well.  Honestly not a whole lot else that I pick up.

The taste continues the pine flavor along with very earthy hops with a biting bitterness.  There is a hint of malt backing to balance things out slightly but the hops do come through much more.  The bitterness returns at the end for an aftertaste that hangs around for a while.

Hoppy Boy is a pretty straight forward IPA with the hops being a little more present than maybe most.  But I must say that didn’t take away anything from the beer.  I actually surprised myself by how quickly my glass was empty on it.

Like many IPAs this would pair really well with the heat of spicy foods.  It would probably also go well with a burger using sharp cheeses like chedder, pepper jack or crumbled blue cheese.

If you want a solid IPA that is sessionable to take you through the night I think Hoppy Boy would be a more than respectable choice.

Grade - B-

Name – Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Hallertau Simcoe
Country – United States
Type – American IPA

It’s about time.  I’m finally done with the Sam Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed pack.  It will be nice to finally move on to reviewing a beer that isn’t an IPA from Boston Beer for a little while.  It’s been fun.  Like I said in the beginning this is a good way to get to know the characteristics of each individual hope style.  But a little tiresome over a week period to put on the blog.

Well let’s jump right in with the final one.  This is the Simcoe variety.  This is a hop that I typically like.  It’s used pretty widely in bigger craft breweries already.

I pour one last time into my nonic pint and, surprise, it’s a clear orange color with a frothy off white head.  The head sticks around for a bit but doesn’t really stick to the glass all that much.

The nose is pretty resiny.  Fresh hop smell with hints of citrus.  You get a decent amount of malt backing in the aroma as well.

The taste is really a lot of the same.  Super fresh hop taste that is both resiny and citrusy.  It balances out with some caramel notes and has a crisp bitter finish.  But not one that lingers around for awhile.

In the end I’m going to say that this is my favorite of the 5 single hop varieties in the pack.  It’s the most well rounded one.  And the one that tastes the best alone compared to the other varieties.

And of course some of these hops are used more for say the aroma over the taste in the normal Latitude 48 so they may not transfer well to being by themselves.  And that’s completely understandable.

Again I enjoyed doing this pack but am glad it’s over.  On to something new, probably something darker too.

Grade - B+

Name – Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Hallertau Mittelfrueh
Country – United States
Type – American IPA

Ah the joys of being a beer blogger.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of trying to accomplish what you want to do.  Case in point is trying to finish off the review of the Sam Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed pack last week.  Friday morning I was just exhausted and didn’t feel the urge to write up a review.  Saturday I was pretty busy all day.  So I just pushed it back to the start of this week.

Here is the next to last one in the series and it’s Hallertau Mittelfrueh.  This hop is probably Boston Beer’s most commonly used beer.  It is a noble hop that they seem to be huge fans of.  I too really like this variety.  Let’s see how it stands in a beer by itself.

As is becoming common for this series I use my nonic pint glass.  It like all the others pours a very clear orange color.  A good sized white head sits atop the beer and leaves a good amount of lacing as it subsides.

The aroma has a bunch of citrus hop aroma mixed with grassy, earthy aromas as well.  Maybe a very slight malt smell but not a lot.

The taste is actually pretty complex.  It’s hoppy with hints of citrus.  It’s grainy.  And it has a biscuit and malt backing to it.  It is also quite floral in taste as well.  The bitterness of the hops and the flower like taste linger around quite a bit after the taste.

Well this is definitely the most complex tasting out of the group so far.  It has a lot of flavor to it but the floral like aftertaste is a bit annoying.  I wouldn’t mind it if it were more citrus in nature but the slight taste of dandelions is not one I particularly like just lingering around in my mouth.

Well that is now 4 down and 1 to go on the Deconstructed pack.  I’ll be back tomorrow for the review of the final one, Simcoe.  Hope you don’t suffer too much from the Mondays.

Grade - B-