Ale Asylum Hopalicious

Draft at OF. Hazy orange-brown color. Solid APA. Sandy brown malt with some higher than average hop bitterness. Top notch example of the style. Dry and sweet, perfect balance. Quality stuff.

Pours cloudy amber with a chunky, 2-finger beige head that has good retention. Aroma is grapefruit, light pine and lots of planty hops, hints of grain citrus and dusty hay. Flavor is citrus and floral hops, white bread, toasted grain, wet rocks, planty hops, a little green apple, light caramel, a little pepper and pine near the finish. The finish is pine and planty hops, toasty grain notes lingering and a decent amount of bitterness, not a lot of bite to it but enough to make it crisp. As it warms it gets a little sweeter and the finish gets a little medicinal bitterness. Palate is pretty full bodied for a 5.5%APA, creamy entry, slightly dry finish with a light, active carbonation, nice. I really enjoyed this one alot, one of the better APA’s I have had.

Strong hop floral flavor, not at all bitter, thick but not malty. interesting. Bottle from a tasting at the house of chris Montelius

Orangish pour. Grapefruit peel and some resinous aromas. Flavor is fairly hoppy and is balanced wtih some good caramel malt. Good for the style.

Draft and bottles around Madison. Standard grapefruit/resin hop nose, flavor has the as=promised by the label maltiness that, when it’s really cold, is really well integrated with the (substantial) resino-us hops. As it warms, the flavors kind of fall apart and it gets a little sticky and mouth coating sweetness upfront that is dominated by bitterness @ the end. Cold = very good. Cellar temp = just average.

Pour is an orange with a small soapy white head. Aroma is deffinatly your pine/grapefruit hops combo. Flavor is more of an earthy malt then hop bitterness but that is what the brewer was going for. Still this is a good beer to taste as its not over the top with the hops and you can tell a lot of work went into creating this beer.

On tap at Madhatter’s in Madison, WI. Pours a copper color with a moderate off-white head. Floral hop aroma. Taste is hoppier than some APAs but still more subtle than an IPA. With a name like Hopalicious one might expect this to be hoppier and either an IPA or DIPA. This is a good APA.

16 oz draft at Jerome’s (Madison, WI). Pours a pale amber, golden notes, fairly good offwhite thick head that laces pretty well. Aromas are grapefruit hoppiness, florals, pale and caramel malts are lighter as slight mango, larger grapefruit, and good florals tend to dominate. Initial is medium bodied, caramel and biscuit malts immediately, grapefruit and mango compliment well with moderate but lighter than expected bitterness. Florals, good enough, with a bit of piney resin. A complete IPA that just lacks flavor strength overall. Pretty good. Cheers!