#271: Bandwagon Brew Pub » Wet Hop Harvest Ale (Copper Ale)

Bandwagon Brew Pub » Wet Hop Harvest Ale (Copper Ale) ABV: 6.1 | Rating: 8.7

I finally made it down to 'Meet The Brewer' Tuesday at down at Bandwagon here in Ithaca, having a scheduled week off from rehearsal. Good timing too, as head brewer, Stephen Bareford had just unleashed his latest, a wet hop copper ale, packed with 20 pounds of fresh, local whole leaf Cascade hops from The Rhizome Republic, just down the road in Freeville, NY.

Between good conversation with friends, a firm, dank hop nose with hints of blood orange reels me in to this fresh brew. A firm, drinkable med-level body wields a great sweet / bitter hop balance with a twinge of dryness in the finish. Firm pine notes threaded with soft, sweet tropical notes.

Head brewer Stephen Bareford gave us the lowdown of how the folks at Rhizome connected on this brew and gave us a quick tour of BWB extremely modest brewing and aging area, which gave me far more of an appreciation for their efforts to cycle through new ideas while still keeping their flagship brews consistent.

Overall, Wet Hop was a solid hop-forward, but not overboard brew and along with the informative conversation from a personable, yet unabashed brewer, it was well worth the visit and rare Tuesday night off.

#125: Hopshire Farm & Brewery » CoHOPeration (Fresh Hop Ale)

Catching up on Hopshires latest offerings...

The Brewery: Hopshire Farm & Brewery (Freeville, NY)
The Brew:  CoHOPeration (Fresh Hop Ale)
Availability: Draft
ABV: 6.8% | IBUs: 60+
Rating: 8.6/10
Location: The Westy

The Story? It's been far too long (post #008) since I've talked about Hopshire Farm & Brewery, one of Central NY's latest craft breweries. As the name suggests, Hopshire is a family owned brewery dedicated to the use of locally grown ingredients in the creation of delicious beer.

CoHOPeration boasts hops from 30 local growers, dominated by Cascade with support from Centennial, Nugget, Williamette, Chinook, Cluster, Newport and some mystery hops (not joking). 40 pounds of hops were added to the boil, then Cascade and Centennial returned for dry-hopping.

The Beer? CoHOPeration presents itself clad in translucent amber, topped with a foamy, lacy white head. The expectantly hoppy, floral and grapefruit nose sews in an unexpected sweetness with mild notes of bubblegum and honey.

Nutty, bitter hop flavors burst with citrus and grapefruit coupled by roasted malt notes and a wonderful mouthfeel. There's a growing dryness in the finish as well that provides a pleasantly bitter mouthcoat.

Another great beer from this innovative local brewery, which embrace the old and new from their 19th century-stile New York hop kiln to their sand-insulated, water-cooled environmentally friendly brewery.

#084: Surly Brewing » Wet (IPA)

Fresh hop IPA from Surly...

The Brewery: Surly Brewing (Brooklyn Center, MN)
The Brew: Wet (India Pale Ale)
Availability: Cans & draft
ABV: 7.5% | IBUs: 90
Rating: 9/10
Location: Home

The Story? Wet is Surly's fresh hopped IPA. Each year, different hops are used depending on what's available. This year focused on Cascade and Centennial hops - 10lbs per barrel. The key with this one is to drink it. Soon.

The Beer? Wet starts out of the gate with a sweet, hoppy nose and very lacy, staying head. The taste is bright and bitter with a touch of sweetness and a far lighter mouthfeel and body than I was expecting. A hot, spicy hop presence builds along with a complimenting drying finish. That hot hop flavor is what really takes the cake for me.

The ABV of Wet is impressively well hidden and even coming in at 90 IBU, this one is still incredibly crisp and drinkable thanks to the light body, ultra fresh hops, a sturdy malt backbone. A refreshing and fresh, fresh, fresh.

#058: Stone Brewing » Enjoy By 09.13.13 (Double IPA - draft & bottle)

Next batch of fresh hop power hits the streets...

(Good beer pics vs. Dark places to drink: Round 168)

The Brewery: Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA)
The Brew:  Enjoy By 09.13.13 (Double IPA)
Availability:  Draft, 22 oz botttles
ABV: 9.4%
Rating: 9.5/10 (draft) // 8/10 (bottle)
Location: Ithaca Ale House / Home

The Story? Stone has always been one for intense taste and innovation and in this humble blogger's opinion, their "Enjoy By" follows in that tradition. From a lesser company, it could be a gimmick - "oh, you need to buy this now and drink it now." But, it's the truth. Once an IPA is ready, it's far better to drink now. Leave your Imperial Stouts and Barleywines in the basement, but put your IPAs in your gut now. 

I was able to enjoy a glass of their 04.01.13 and was impressed. I heard some mixed reviews about the draft vs. bottle versions, so this time around, I bought both. 

The Beer? 
Draft: Incredibly fragrant with a pungent hop nose. Not that you'd expect anything less from Stone. It's a hop-dream bouquet of sweet flowers, orange, lemon, and tropical fruits. Golden color with a white, lacy head. 

The taste - bold, grassy, hot hop flavor, though not as extreme as the nose might infer. Full, robust mouthfeel with tons of sticky, piney hops packed in, ending in a long, steady hop finish. I'm intrigued to know of any food parings recommendations for this. The finish was so hardy, I had to take water between beer and food in order to taste my meal!

The freshness is the king here - wildly aromatic nose, smooth mouthfeel with a bit of hop oil, and that bold, everlasting finish. A west-coast style, hop-head must have.

Bottle: Out of the bottle, the nose isn't quite as pungent compared to the draft version. There's a strong grapefruit presence on this less-dank nose.

Wow! The taste vastly differs on this one. Starkly crisp, with an immense amount of grapefruit and citrus rind. Sharp flavors and a lighter body and mouthfeel, which finishes far quicker and cleaner. Still bitter, but without the lingering dryness.

It's still a tasty brew, but a complexly different beast. The bottle version of 09.13.13 doesn't nearly have that DIPA dank, stickiness to it that the draft version held. Instead, we're met with a very pithy, crisp, sharp, but still unique IPA.

Give both a try for yourself, but this blogger would suggest jumping for the draft if you get the chance. 

#045: Ballast Point Brewing Co. - Sculpin IPA

An IPA of hop legend...

The Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Co. (San Diego, CA)
The Brew: Sculpin IPA
Availability: 6-packs, 22 oz. & draft
ABV: 7% // IBUs: 70
Rating: 10/10
Location: Home

The Story? My first introduction to Ballast Point was through my friend Maciej - a real hop head who, at the time, was working his way through the best American IPAs before heading back to Poland. The order of operations is a bit fuzzy, but I was obliged to assist in his search, offering to trade a can of The Alchemist's Heady Topper for some of his delicious, hoppy session homebrews.

As most beer exchanges go, he invited me in and offered to split a few bottles he'd been lining up to try out. At the time I had my head buried, focusing on the wild/sour/farmhouse side of things and had backburnered my love of IPAs. As soon as he popped open his bottle of Sculpin, fresh, aromatic hops filled the air as we sat sipping, gazing off the hill-top apartment across the fastness that surrounds Ithaca. With my friend back in Poland and my love of IPA back in full swing, would it be the same fantastic experience as that hot, early summer day?

The Beer? A very fragrant pour with blooming, lacy head. Minerally nose with lots of fresh hops and notes of citrus and apple. Color is on the verge or opaque.

Majestic seems to be a good word to first describe the pure IPA bliss that hits your tongue. Uncontrolled statements like "Oh, my god..." and shivers may also be involved as deep, rich hops fill the palate, swirling with flavors of pine, grass, rock, and a variety of citrus and tropical fruits. The moutfeel is superb - slippery and refreshing with a staying dry, tart/bitter hop finish. Despite the massive gathering of hops, Ballast Point are wise to keep this one down to 70 IBUs, issuing a full bouquet of hops which never becomes overbearing or numbing.

Unique, dynamic, pale, fresh, and tart. Amazing and pretty much perfect.