Blue Point Hoptical Illusion

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

Pours a transparent dark with a creamy head. The aroma and taste are very hoppy as the name would imply, but if you aren’t familiar with hops in beers you might get overwhelmed easily.

Re-rate: Had this on cask at the brewery. I don’t think it counts as the burbon barrel version. Extremely smooth on cask. Some of the edgy bitterness has been taken off making it less hoppy, but it is more than compensated by the increased creaminess of the beer as a whole.

Hoppy aroma, with a moderate off-white head. Creamy and hoppy flavor and it’s very smooth. Nice stuff.

Orange with thin white head. Spicy aroma with notes of fruits, fresh hops and citrus. Citrus flavour with notes of hops, tea and fruit. A bit sweet. Dry, stabbing bitterness.

The Lure:
Dry-hopped leafy goodness proffers blossoming starfruit, grapefruit, and oranges. A well-retained head sits there, idly decorating the hop perfume. If you want a hoppy quaffer, this is quite attractive.

The Festivities:
Oranges salute the sweet malt in their supportive but never expressive role, but soon dance with the bold resinous, wooden hop bitterness. Mouthfeel makes it a pleasurable quencher, and carries the flavors efficiently.

Transcendence:
A bouquet of flowers rarely disappoints.

On cask at Mahar’s:
The superb balance between citrusy hops and biscuity maltiness, aided by the smooth natural carbonation of the cask, has prompted me to raise my score a bit more.

An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet and very hoppy as well as very fruity. The flavor is sweet with light notes of alcohol coming thru the notes of grass, and leading to a dry hoppy and bitter end.

Bottle on Tap at Isaac Newtons. Golden in and clear in color with a nice white head. Hoppy and malty aroma. Very hoppy. Citrusy. Well balanced. Medium bodied. Hoppy and malty flavor. Piney and citrusy. Finish is dry. Decent beer. Drinkable.

Just picked this up at the brewery today - haven’t seen it in stores yet, but it is bottled, so should be out soon - the is much lighter in color than their other IPA (nearly clear golden, with a slight copper tint), and the aroma is much hoppier - the smell is loaded with fresh hops, but tempered with sweet, somewhat fruity malts - medium bodied - not a knockout in the hop department, but they are certainly there, and they melt quite well into the mild berry and citrus flavor to the beer, as well as the moderate malt profile - not the kick in the mouth that some other IPAs are, but this sucker is fairly refined, very well-balanced, and tasty - the finish is a nice mixture of lingering hops, a touch of caramel, and a bready/grainy taste - my new favorite Blue Point beer, right next to the ESB.
Earlier Rating: 7/24/2004 Total Score: 3.8
This is but one of the (far too many) Blue Point beers that are only available at the brewery - that being said, there is almost nothing that distinguishes this beer from their ESB - not that this is a bad thing, because their ESB is excellent - they both have similar color, hop and malt profiles, etc. - this beer is a bit thicker, perhaps just a tad heavier on the malt - the closest comparison would be to Hop Devil, which is pretty good company, actually.

on tap @ Publick House. Good nose, Citrusy, honey. Clean golden orange, small head that faded quickly. Bitter flavors, like the aromas with a little of a nutty addition . Medium body, creamy oily mouthfeel, bitterdry finish. Nice brew, good to see in Massachusetts.