Hereford & Hops Hop Rocket Ale

Brewed by Hereford & Hops Restaurant & Brew Pub
Style: Amber Ale
Escanaba, Michigan USA

Although I gave the St. Edmund’s Porter 1 more Overall point, this is my favorite H&H beer. Attractive copper hue with decent head retention and lace. Although light on aroma, this brew lives up to its name with a solid dose of floral hops. Could be a little richer in the body department, but the flip side is better drinkability for the light weights. A very solid brew and one I would look forward to in anticipation on my next visit.

Appearance: clear, coppery hue, nearly orange, with a nicely retained creamy, fuzzy head...an attractive pint before me. Aroma is herbal hops, piney, sprucey, juicy, bitter, caramel-y, toffeeish a touch....a bit of spice, very flavorful...let’s drink, eh? Taste: great display of hops on the palate, then very smooth, and very rewarding. Bitterness abounds, leaps onto every taste...all those sensations detected in the nose combine in the flavor. Medium bodied, with a light, hoppy finish...very tasty. Damn good! Hops are ablazing in this amber....I could get good and comfortable with this ale!

On-tap at the brewpub: Dark amber stained with caramel brown. Small compact head of fluffy, light tanned froth. Dwindles away at a easy gonig pace keeping a set skim and collar at the top. Lacing is spread from top to bottom with a skinny stringy blobbing. Nice aroma but a tad light for an amber with a fine toasty malt and piney hop topping. Bits of tartly scorched grapefruit and lime peels split around the last hindrances of hops. Taste nearly mirrors the aroma with a solid pine enduced bitternees on the trailing end. Toasty and well rounded malt, a smideon fruity it certain areas. But the hops in the finish really bring this puppy full circle. Very nicely handled bitterness of piney citrus. More so piney with a leafy addition to a slight grapefruity tinge and grab. Medium body feel with a fairly smooth carbonation, perhaps a tad thin in the front end but the hoppy finish makes up for it. A pleasingly good drinkin’ hoppy amber. This could actually put quite a few of the weaker IPA’s out there under a rug and stomp on them.

Nice beer! Didn’t expect this from my local brewpub. Drank this with an Englishman, and he commented on how well it would go over in the UK. Keep up the good work!! Nice floral hops, not overly hoppy, but just enough to keep the beer going.

On draught at the brewpub in Wausau, Wisconsin. Pours a clear copper penny amber brew with a creamy white head that has good retention and thick lacing. Aroma of light white bread malt, some herbs and plenty of grapefruit zest with piney hops. Taste is medium bodied, light carbonation with strong citrus/pine flavors that over-powers any malt flavors. Finish is quite bitter, with a lingering grapefruit zest aftertaste that makes this more like an IPA than an American Pale Ale.

Name: Hop Rocket
Date: 06/24/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

clear dark amber, dense cream head, solid lace, sweet citrus aroma, creamy body, rich hop flavor on a sweet caramel malt base, perfect balance between the hops and the malt, light bitterness adds to the ballance but does not detract from the hop flavor, lasting tasty bitter finish

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

On tap in Wausau. Clear light brown color with lots of grapefruit citrus hops on the nose. Similar flavor profile but with a refreshing bitterness.

On tap. Great hop aroma, orange peel and grapefruit, sweet brown sugar malt. Deep amber-orange clear with off-white foamy laing head. Medium waery body with light carbonation. Starts with mild sweet maltiness and fruity fresh hops. Dies away quickly to a medium chalky bitterness and tongue-coating dry nutty after.