Foothills Hoppyum IPA

Brewed by Foothills Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA

On tap @ FH 6/30/06: Medium ambery orangish light copper, short lived white head. Again, dirty glassware. Very pleasant floral, citrusy hop aroma. Medium toasty malt balances w/ a light caramel and hoppy fruitiness. Very smooth centennial grapefruity and floral hop flavor. Very well balanced, maybe a bit too well for an IPA, but has a lightly bitter finish. Fruity and lightly sweet in the aftertaste. Light caramel and toasty, nutty malt in between. Very smooth m/f w/ lighter medium carbonation, lighter full body, and well hidden alcohol if higher than 6%. Very well made beer. For me, it’s remeniscent of Buckeye’s ’76 which is 100% centennial, but it has other floral notes as well from the hops. So good I had to buy a growler of it!

Enjoyed at the 13th Annual Southern Brewers Festival. Probably the best of the day. Reddish copper pour with light carbonation. Pine and citrus peal are fresh and inviting in the aroma. It’s a bit musky too. Big hop flavor with tangerine, grapefruit, and citrus peal. Decent malt holding it all together. Very enjoyable. Medium body (a bit on the watery side) with a dry finish. Good stuff.

Sampled on draught at the Capitol City Carnival 2007. Pouts to a bright, deep golden to amber color, with a tall, rocky, white head, and a good bit of carbonation. The nose on this beer is fragrant, with good citrus aromas of grapefruit and lemon. The palate is firm, with good biscuit and caramel malt flavors, paired with a nice back drop of candided lemon/grapefruit flavors. This beer finishes with more good pale and caramel malt and citus hop flavor up front, then ends with a zesty punch of grapefruit and lemon hop bitterness that lingers. Well done AIPA with lots of hop aromas, flavors, and bitterness. Well done, and a nice drinking AIPA.

Not being familiar with this brewer, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but in the end, the label says it all. This beer is hop-packed, with a great, bitter flavor that shows off the Simcoe hops. It;s bitter, undoubtedly, but there is a progression to the bitterness that opens on the palate and makes the drinking experience worthwhile. I really got more than I expected out of this beer and its tremendous length on the palate. Good stuff, and nice smooth character.

tap @ bp. with a name like hopyum, u better represent, and this beer doesn’t. good, drinkable, but nothing spectacular.

Really good IPA. This was surprisingly similar to the Seeing Double. I thought it would be more toned-down, but toned-down is not a good word for this IPA, which remains quite strong and hoppy, in order to light your cowboys fire.

Sampled at the Savor DC event. Pours a clear orange amber with a frothy, rocky head. Aroma pine, hop resin and oils with some tropical fruits. Crisp, clean flavor or oranges, pine and citrus zest. Flavorful and drinkable. Quick side note: Jamie and the guys from Foothills were without a doubt some of the nicest guys at the entire event.

One of the better East Coast IPAs. Less floral and far more resiny in both aroma and flavor, Hoppyum packs tons of flavor with a medium bitterness. Solid malt underpinning mitigates the ample hop character. Very fine!