Chama River Dr. Hop Good

Brewed by Chama River Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Albuquerque, New Mexico USA

Draft @ Chama River. Pours a clear deep amber color with a medium sized fine off white head. The aroma is big and bold with grapefruit, citrus, and some pine. There is also a moderately sweet caramel presence. The flavor once again is all about the hops. Every drink contained huge citrus, grapefruit, and pine with enough of a malt backbone to reign in the beer and provide some balance. Nice bitterness throughout. Mouthfeel was spot on. I would love to have this close to me so I can enjoy it on a regular basis.

On tap at the brewery. Nice!!! Am I at Pizza Port? This is a smooth drinking hop bomb of a brew...nuances of oak covered vanilla extract glide around behind the hard slap of sticky resin. Sticky pine and caramel round out the back end. Other fluffy biscuit notes squeeze their way into the flavor profile. Flavor hits much harder than the nose. Very solid!

Great beer, incredible nose and resinous hop bite. First batch was better than the second, but both were very good. I can only hope the hop shortage doesn’t kill this beer.

GABF 2007: Poured a slightly hazed amber color with an off-white head.Big fresh grapefruit forward aroma. Malty caramel flavor with some toasty notes. Dry moderately bitter finish. Grapefruit rind finish.

Date: 10/12/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, GABF

hazy dark yellow, fine off white head, rich sweet caramel and biscuit malt aroma with an abundance of citrus hops, rich malt flavor, touch of sweetness, lots of bittering hops, long bitter finish,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

GABF ’07. Pours clear amber with a large, rocky, off-white, lasting head, good lacing. Aroma is average malt (hay, straw), heavy hops (flowers, perfume, pine, grapefruit), light yeast (dough) with notes of apricot. Medium bodied, oily texture, soft carbonation, and a bitter finish. Average duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness. Wonderful hop bouquet in this one.

Brewer hand-bottled... This beer rocks!... Clear copper ale with a small, creamy, white head. According to its commercial description, a blend of my favorite hops and my very favorite malt went into the creation of this beer. What’s not to like? The aroma is of pink grapefruit, caramel, earthy pine and a squirt of Simcoe cat piss thrown in for kicks and complexity. Hefty, crystal malt backbone is balanced nicely by that wonderful PNW hop flavor... malty, earthy and herbal with judicious bitterness and moderate sweetness. Full-bodied with a chewy mouthfeel and mild carbonation. Mostly sweet, but moderately bitter, grapefruit and tropical fruit finish. Thanks, erway, for shipping this bottle my way!

This is an excellent beer. A nice crystal clear red with a lasting off-white head. Mostly hop nose with a slight hint of malt. The flavor follows in suit. A smooth strong hop flavor up front with just enough malt sweetness to balance it out. You can detect just enough alcohol to know it’s an imperial. If you can get your hands on this one, you have to try it.