Tonight's beer: Bell's Hopslam
Piercingly and complexly bitter to start—pine, citrus (mainly grapefruit), pineapple, melons, assorted tropicals, flowers, grass, flickers of spice (galangal?). Sweetness struggles to break the surface through the middle: bread, toast, honey, caramel, fruit juice; then the beer dries out nicely and quickly.
Light-bodied, softly-carbonated, pretty smooth. Blisteringly drying, scrubbing but not scouring; long resinous-sticky finish. A small gentle flicker of alcohol heat almost after the finish, nowhere near what I'd expect for 10% ABV.
This beer does not suck. Complexly bitter, with just enough sweet to throw the bitter into stark relief; intense—and unbalanced—as hell. Graceful and well-integrated. Almost distressingly drinkable, with practically zero warning of the substantial boozy payload. Delicious, but while I'm glad it more or less fell into my lap, I'm not convinced it's worth the chase.
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| Bell's Hopslam |
Piercingly and complexly bitter to start—pine, citrus (mainly grapefruit), pineapple, melons, assorted tropicals, flowers, grass, flickers of spice (galangal?). Sweetness struggles to break the surface through the middle: bread, toast, honey, caramel, fruit juice; then the beer dries out nicely and quickly.
Light-bodied, softly-carbonated, pretty smooth. Blisteringly drying, scrubbing but not scouring; long resinous-sticky finish. A small gentle flicker of alcohol heat almost after the finish, nowhere near what I'd expect for 10% ABV.
This beer does not suck. Complexly bitter, with just enough sweet to throw the bitter into stark relief; intense—and unbalanced—as hell. Graceful and well-integrated. Almost distressingly drinkable, with practically zero warning of the substantial boozy payload. Delicious, but while I'm glad it more or less fell into my lap, I'm not convinced it's worth the chase.
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