Headwaters Pale Ale - Victory Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Headwaters Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.1%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Bright, clear orange color...no haziness at all to it really. Half a finger of off-white head that leaves quickly and has poor cap/lacing for an APA...

Smell: Smells great, vibrant even...lots of citrus (fruit and hops...orange maybe?) and also some piney hops. There is a very solid malt smell behind all of the hops, though, which gives it a sweet bready smell to it. Great smelling beer.

Taste: I get a burst of orange from the onset and citrus hops follow shortly thereafter...it seems to jump down the middle of your tongue all of the way to the back of your throat. The malt has a nice caramel sweetness to it and is solid (not completely overrun by the hops) so you get a nice balanced beer. This really tastes great...the piney hops and bread from the nose are there, but not in a big way. The taste really sticks with you.

Mouthfeel: Slightly on the lighter side of medium, with adequate carbonation and boy is this one drinkable. You get an oiliness that sticks with you a bit; very pleasant overall mouthfeel.

Overall Grade: A-

Comments: Yet another great beer from Victory...I've come to respect most everything they do. I would suggest that you grab this if you're a hop head or are just looking to try what a great APA should taste like. Enjoy some of Pennsylvania's finest!

Cheers,

Hurls

Yakima Glory - Victory Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Yakima Glory

Style: American Black Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 8.7%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a dark chocolate color with a finger of creamy tan head. The retention is decent, with a concentrated cap in the middle of the beer. The lacing is just okay, but not a major concern. Too dark to see if there is much carbonation :-O

Smell: smells like toasted caramel malt mostly. Has a smell of raisins to it and some pleasant citrus hops toward the back end. Not extremely complex, but pleasant.

Taste: Wow, very interesting! So, this starts out mostly malty, sweet and caramel-y, but more lightly toasted than I thought from the smell. The taste rolls into a brief citrus hop and grapefruit flavor, which then gets completely engulfed by a huge roasted malt finish that tastes like coffee. It's so odd because you get that roasted flavor with a bitter hop bite, but it's missing most of the hop flavor that accompanies the actual bite. So interesting, and I like it quite a bit.

Mouthfeel: Medium mouthfeel/body but definitely on the sticky/oily side of things. Adequately carbonated, nothing out of the ordinary here really.

Overall Grade: A-

Comments: This beer is unlike anything I've previously had..it's like a light, hoppy stout...just awesome. I would highly recommend that you try this, at least just for the experience. Life is about collecting experiences, and this is definitely a very unique one, as far as beers go...should be available in many places, as Victory has good distribution.

Cheers,

Hurls

Hop Mountain - Old Dominion Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Hop Mountain

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.6%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Harris Teeter in Herndon, VA

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a deep ruby color with a finger of tan head, which quickly disappears. Great lacing and a very thin cap are left in its wake. The beer is translucent, but with no noticeable carbonation.

Smell: Floral and piney hops all the way with dark malts hanging out in the background. The malts definitely seem to be much darker, roasted, caramelized, etc. than typical pale ale malts. The beer smells good but it's nothing incredibly special or anything.

Taste: This is an interesting drink...starts sweet with the malts and then rolls into a muted piney hop taste, then into sweetness again. The second layer of sweetness is mostly citrus in nature, orange/grapefruit/pineapple/apple/etc. This is a very nice complexity they have going on here, but it's disappointing that you get only mostly hop bitterness and not quite as much hop flavor. I guess maybe the citrus hops flavor that would be near the end gets washed out by all of the other complex citrusy goodness they have going on there.

Mouthfeel: Light side of medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. This beer has an oily feel to it and it coats every square inch of your palate. Decent overall mouthfeel; again, nothing special there.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: A slightly above average beer, but pretty good by Northern VA craft standards. Definitely worth a try but missing that hop flavor sucks a bit; I considered giving it a B- because of that, but it's such an interesting drink and a very complex beer, so that won those lost points back.

Cheers,

Hurls

Hop Wallop - Victory Brewing Company

So, this beer has the tough task of living up to the Dreadnaught from Three Floyds Brewing...NOT an easy task...let's see how it stacks up.

Vitals:

Name: Hop Wallop

Style: American IIPA

IBU: ??

ABV: 8.5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a golden copper color; 1.5 fingers of bone-white head. Decent/moderate retention and a nice cap. No noticeable carbonation from the look of it.

Smell: I barely smell any malt; mostly floral and piney hops and maybe some citrus hops as well. Smells uber hoppy, which is exciting.

Taste: Hop-forward doesn't even begin to describe this beer. The hops wash over your entire mouth and it feels like your tongue is being attacked. Mostly piney resinous flavors here. This beer has virtually no balance, which is OK for an extreme hop head like me but will punish anyone other than that.

Mouthfeel: Oily and resinous; medium body and not any carbonation. Attacks your taste buds and sticks with you long after you finish the drink. This beer completely coats your mouth.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: Does it help that this beer followed up my A+ Dreadnaught review? No. But in all honesty I feel this is a valid rating for this beer. I like this beer, but it's simply too imbalanced to warrant a higher grade. If you're not a huge hop head you will most likely hate this beer. Experiment with this brew accordingly.

Cheers,

Hurls

Dreadnaught - Three Floyds Brewing

And now for the third, and most anticipated (on my part) offering from FFF's brewing. I'm expecting a great deal out of this beer, both because of the cost $11 for 22 oz., and because of the disappointment of Rabbid Rabbit lingering on my palate. 

Vitals:

Name: Dreadnaught

Style: American IIPA

IBU: 99 (YES!)

ABV: 9.5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a deep, dark copper color with 1.5 fingers of head. INCREDIBLE lacing with a thicky creamy white head (shut up and get your head out of the gutter). Minimal carbonation bubbles, which is odd for FFF's beers, as they are usually highly carbonated.

Smell: This smells heavenly to a hop head such as myself. Citrus hops dominate here with piney hops as well. Grapefruit and mango smells here as well; the beer also offers some sweet malty smells (caramel I think).

Taste: The caramel malt backbone is perfect throughout, not too much or too little. The Taste follows the nose with grapefruit, mango, and citrus hops rolling into a duo of earthy/piney hops to finish out the experience. You can't taste the 9.5% ABV almost at all in this incredibly hop-forward big IIPA. This is truly a hop flurry on your tongue; magnificent, but not for the faint of heart.

Mouthfeel: This beer is very crisp and even on the light side of medium body (surprisingly); low carbonation, but it's there nonetheless. It has an oily mouthfeel with a puckering bitterness. However, it's worth noting that this beer doesn't scrape your palate like a lot of big IIPAs, which is awesome.

Overall Grade: A+

Comments: This is one of my favorite beers...a true hop head's dream. It is bursting with hop flavor and doesn't disappoint at any point in the experience. Surprisingly light for an IIPA. Holy crap, I wish this were cheaper because it's fantastic. If you like hops you MUST TRY THIS BEER.

Cheers,

Hurls

Two-Hearted Ale - Bell's Brewery

So I must admit, I have had Bell's Two-Hearted before. They are home to the best beer I've ever had (I will most definitely review it in the winter because it's a seasonal). This is a very good beer and my review will reflect that.

Vitals:

Name: Two-Hearted Ale

Style: American IPA

IBU: ??

ABV: 7.0%

Gravity: 1.064 OG (translation: 16 deg. Plato)

Purchased at: left at our BBQ :-)

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours an awesome coppery-orange color with about 2.5 fingers of head (see picture). Very translucent; head is slow to leave and leaves thick lacing and a nice bubbly white cap.

Smell: Orange and lemon give the fuitiness in the background, but the piney hops will be the superstar here. Not too much malt on the nose, and it's possible some citrus hops play in the orange/lemon bouquet. Possibly a small bit of spice, though I'm not sure what.

Taste: I don't taste any lemon really and only faint orange. The fruit is mostly grapefruit on the front end with some citrus hops. You get a nice sweet malt taste up front that rolls over very nicely with a pretty big bite and a piney tastefully bitter finish. Can barely detect the 7.0% ABV, which is nice. You basically get: grapefruit/citrus hops --> malt sweetness --> a piney resinous/bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: This beer is on the lighter side of a medium body with adequate carbonation. There is a dry finish here but it's not a big detractor. You get a thin coating in your mouth from the hops, with a slightly oily feel.

Overall Grade: A-

Comments: This is VERY drinkable for an IPA; I would think it's an APA without knowing otherwise. This is definitely a go-to beer for me, right up there with Hopalicious. The high ABV will preclude you from having a bunch of these, but this is a good one for sure. Not a complete hop bomb, but it's close. Try it out if you're a hop head!

Cheers,

Hurls

Lilja's Hop Nest Monster - Pangaea Brewing Company

I love the name of this beer - hoping that the taste will be the same. I've never in my life heard of Pangaea Brewing Company, but it must be a Wisconsin brew since I got it from the Old Fashioned BYO 6-pack

Vitals:

Name: Lilja's Hop Nest Monster

Style: American IPA

IBU: 77

ABV: 7.0%

Gravity: 17 deg. Plato

Purchased at: The Old Fashioned (BYO 6-Pack)

Descriptions:

Appearance: The beer pours a dirty straw color, lighter than I would expect from an IPA. The head on this beer is bone-white and reminds me on a meringue topping on a pie. This may be the most unfiltered beer I've ever seen or else it might be infected (yeast problem...insert jokes here)

Smell: Slightly floral smell with mostly grassy hops and toasted malts; maybe a bit grainy. The smell was not what I expected, much less strong than a normal IPA.

Taste: WOW! Full on frontal assault with the grassy hops, this beer certainly lives up to its name in that respect. The bitterness lingers for a long time, though I must say there's not much actual hop flavor, just the bitterness, which is a detractor since you get no complexity. The beer isn't very balanced at all, which is surprising given the grainy malt smell. Lemon and flowers come through a bit as the beer builds to the hop bitterness; you only get a small taste of the toasted malts (thus the imbalance).

Mouthfeel: This beer is medium bodied, but extremely oily and astringent. The beer really dries your mouth out AS you're drinking it, while most astringent beers I've had do that after you finish your sip. I really wonder if this beer is filtered AT ALL - there is a TON of debris that is suspended in the beer.

Overall Grade: B-

Comments: I LOVE LOVE LOVE hops, but this beer just had no balance and wasn't doing it for me. I would drink this every once in a while to see if there's any degree of consistency to this beer, especially to see if the debris thing remains a problem. There are definitely better IPAs out there, go and find one!

Cheers,

Hurls