Blue Point Hoptical Illusion

Brewed by Blue Point Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Patchogue, New York USA

Pours a dark golden color with a slightly off white head. Aroma of grapefruits and pine. Full of hops. A great IPA.

[Bottle, February 2007] Orange/ Yellow pour. Aroma is pine and moss. Flavor is pine and potpourri. Exceptionally bitter and crisp mouthfeel.

12oz Bottle: Honeyish deep golden pour with an off-white one-finger head. Very aromatic. Lemon citrus, orangey, sweet tangerine and only a hint of pale malt. The flavor is a lot more bitter than the aroma suggests. Seems harsh and bitter, more grapefruity. Lacks malt bite in my opinion. Loads of bittering hops, with nothing to hold up the body. Long, piney, bitter rind-like finish. Not so balanced.

Opposite end of the spectrum of a Two Hearted, where as the two hearted is somewhat bitter, this was a sweeter IPA. The first half of the glass tasted brilliant, but lagged after the class was hall full. Would drink again, draft only though.

BOTTLE: You want hops? We got hops? Lotsa hops. Tasty, not too bitter hops at that. Not my most appreciated style, so I’ll keep my less that expert observations to a minimum. Grapefruit flavor nicely subdued when icy cold becomes annoyingly dominant to me as it warms, but I suspect that hops lovers will find this a pretty good one of the style. BUY AGAIN? Probably not

12 oz bottle into a Tulip glass, thanks to Kirk for picking this up in NJ! Pours a light golden orange color that is moderately hazy. A thin foamed white head sits up to, retaining mostly to the sides of the glass. Quite strange, there really isn’t much of an aroma on this guy, but what is there is lightly spiced and hoppy with no malt present. The flavor begins a bit watery actually (which comes to mind on the nose) and swiftly moves into a citrusy hop note that is fairly one dimensional. The taste ends on a nice and light, refreshing bitter pine hop note. I don’t taste much malt in this beer whatsoever, it’s interesting. Overall it’s well done, but very simple and one dimensional.

Pours orange with a small retaining head. Has a nice hoppy finish, with a citrusy flavor to it. Just a hint of malt.

Sampled at D’s. Golden yellow body with small foamy white head. Fairly bland aroma of citrus hops. Flavor has a little more character with some sweet caramel malt with the crisp citrus. A little bit of a soapiness.