Sierra Nevada - Hoptimum

Hoptimum is a 10.4% (yikes!!) DIPA from Sierra Nevada, best known for their mass-market Pale Ale and some seasonal releases. This is one such seasonal limited release, but it saw pretty wide distribution thanks to Sierra Nevada's huge network. It actually wasn't that easy to come by in LA, strangely enough (SN is from California, so you'd think they'd have LA covered) but if one was willing to leave the cocoon of 818/310/213/323, you could find it less centrally.

Appearance: Gorgeous clear honey color, with a thick, tall head that slowly recedes leaving a mess of webbed lacing on the glass. This is a great looking beer.

Smell: Floral and citrus notes, but a little subdued. Deeper sniffs reveal a hint of malt as well, but overall the nose is underwhelming.

Taste: Interesting! It's not overly fruity or piney, which are the two usual motifs in big IPAs. There is fruit, sure -- a bit of citrus, like in the nose -- but there is actually more of a peppery character, and some grass. It's primarily sharp and earthy, with some fruit and sweetness from the malt to round it out.

Mouthfeel: It's actually on the fuller side, and smooth, but a bit sticky. It lingers in the mouth a bit and the bitterness makes my mouth pucker and water a bit. I'm being a bit more descriptive than usual with that (I know, I'm trying to avoid saying the same things over and over again) but this isn't too unusual for a super-DIPA.

Overall: This is pretty good, especially for the price point. Despite this being a blog about beer, I rarely mention the buzz-factor and try to just talk about the characteristics of the beer. I'm going to cast that tendency aside for a moment and mention that I drank this in between meals (i.e. on an empty-ish stomach) and I absolutely have a decent buzz going. This is all meant to be evidence of the "good for the price point" claim, since this 12 oz bottle is approximately $2.50 and definitely gets the job done. Now, back to "craft" characteristics: the taste was slightly different from what I've come to expect, and good, but I think I am biased a bit in the "fruity" direction, as I tend to enjoy those more than I enjoyed Hoptimum; also, as I mentioned I was underwhelmed by the nose. But this is definitely a very good DIPA, especially considering the high volume level of production Sierra Nevada undertook in making and distributing this.

3/5