Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Boonville, California USA

12 oz bottle courtesy Buckeye Boy. Pours a nice copper color with a thick white head. Big malty caramel, very hoppy citrus aroma. Malty dry taste with lots of bitter hops. This is a very bitter beer. Leaves a dry bitter aftertaste.

This is an awesome IPA with a lovely piney aroma with a hint of sweet honey. It pours a clear golden amber color with a thin white head. The flavor is full of piney and citrus hops with a touch of honey and lemon. The sweetness of the honey mellows the bitterness of the hops, which lasts long into the finish. Its texture is smooth and a little bit oily with a medium body and moderate carbonation.

Heavy duty floral hopster here. Hearty honey and deep lush spring floral aromas. Taste is plenty crisp and quite dry as expected with such a hop concoction. Biased as IPAs aren’t my favorite no matter how good. Nonetheless, everything seems executed well here. Deserving of a high rating for the style.

Aroma: Smell is fairly innocent. Caramel malts, a touch of diacetyl, a drop of honey. Nice, fresh, fruity edge of hops. Smells of a lush, green valley... kind of like the rustic scene depicted on the bottle. Appearance: Very pretty, a dense color somewhere between clover honey and caramel. Very hazy and difficult to see through, which gives it a rather bold, confident appearance. Head is yellow-white and fluffy, with excellent retention. Thick lacing all the way down. Flavor: Holy crap, these hops are hardcore! Incredibly crisp, with a woody/earthy edge. Carrots come to mind. A subtle citric sweetness is also detectable. Malts are, naturally, somewhat obstructed by the hops, but definitely there. Aggressively dry, kind of nutty finish. Palate: This beer awakens your palate. Quite refreshing, but not exactly thirst-quenching. Overall: If you aren’t a fan of hops, drinking this could prove to be somewhat trying. But whether you’re a hophead or not, you have to admit this beer packs a huge amount of flavor for how light it is. Good stuff!

Only sampled in bottles, but still find it to be very hoppy, aromatic, and on the darker side of IPA’s and definitely a good kick after each taste of the first couple of pints. I used to think, though, it was a much better brew than I find it now. Still tasty and among the best of any beers available in Lost Vegas, Nerdvada. If only I lived in the Pacific NW.

I’ve had this before and refrained from adding an entry until I tried 1-2 other bombers. I had one last night and honestly, the beer has too much of an asprin-like aftertaste that I didn’t enjoy any of the times I’ve had it. The aroma was really nice...a fresh blast of citrusy goodness comes shooting out of the glass. That’s where the fun stops though. Hops seemed earthy somehow, with a bit of medium sweet malts with the aspirin finish. Not enough hop or malt interaction for my liking. I do like my IPA’s to be a little more hop-forward with some nice malt backing, but this didn’t have either to the level I typically enjoy. Still, for the price you pay it’s not bad. But I do enjoy other AV products much more.

Slightly sweet, mild hoppy nose. Deep amber/copper color, pillowy head. Solid caramel maltiness, good bitterness, finishes with some tart apple notes. Well carbonated, really a nice IPA.

Cloudy orange color with a sizable slightly off-white head, which sticks around in some form or other for quite a while. Aroma is first heavy in hops, then a little in fruits and flowers. Taste is pretty hoppy with a tasty bite to it. Pretty darn bitter, but other flavors appear if you take a moment to take notice of them.