Hoppy Face Amber Ale

Brewed by Hoppy Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Sacramento, California USA

22oz bottle pours cloudy amber with a slight offwhite head that fades quickly. Aromas of grapefruit and floral hops, a little pepper, and some roasted nuts. Flavor is grapefruit upfront, there is also some pepper spiciness in there and some caramel malts behind it all. Medium body.. Not much carbonation and a somewhat bitter and dry finish. Pretty average all the way around.

Bottle. The body was dark orange with a huge white colored head. The aroma was grapefruit with some flowers and peanuts. The taste was low on the grapefruit with some spicy black pepper. There was also some dry soybeans. Nothing impressive, but there never is in this style.

So is it an amber (as Rb says) or a West Coast IPA (as the brewery says). Let’s find out. 22oz bomber, no date. Pours a hazy orange copper with a moderate, light red-yellow (very very light, mind you) head. Aroma is of piney, grapefruity hops, some grainy and caramelly malts, some nuts, and a slight bit of chalkiness. Quite bitter up front, with not a lot of hoppy flavor to back it up. Just bitter, which is stupid. Some nuts and caramel do show up midway through into a somewhat dry finish. Moderate carbonation, medium bodied. I don’t feel that this beer is that great. I think I paid $3.50-4.00 for this, which is too much.

Creates a heaping amount of froth up top a burnt orange hue. The nose is decorated with mild hops and weak notes of caramel hop. The flavor is a lop sided mixture of caramel malt and bittering westcoast hop that really tips the scale on shock value. Aftertaste is bitter and extremly dry, but overall this is a intimdating amber ale.

On tap @ Falling Rock poured a hazy amber with a small lasting off white head. Aromas of carmel, pine and a hint of citrus. Palate was light bodied and smooth. Flkavors of light carmel, earthy and a hint of pine with a smooth finish.

(Draft at brewery. 03/2006). This really is their IPA. Mild, floral hops aroma. Slight bubble-gum character to the flavor. Up-front bitterness. Clear gold/amber with white head that dissipates to medium film. Sweet, malty backbone wih hints of caramel. Medium bodies. Finishes slightly sweet with a m inor, lingering floral bitterness.

04-Mar-06 (22 oz bottle: $2.99 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) This just came back in stock, so I picked up what I know is a fresh bottle, so a few additional words are in order. This beer is, in fact, not just a hoppy brew like I originally stated, but a wonderfully flavorful and balanced amber. The malts are toasty, husky, pleasantly grainy and only lightly sweet, balanced with a citrusy, moderately bitter hops. In the nose, it’s mostly a pleasant, generic hoppiness with mild huskiness in the background. Body is medium "plus", the palate is relatively clean thanks to the longevity of the hops, and there are no carbonation issues this time around. Amber body is somewhat hazy with particles adding further obstructions when looking through the beer. Tall, rocky, off-white head is long-lasting and leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. A change in perception for this beer this time around, but no changes in my actual numbers. Ambers tend to be pretty boring, but this one is flavorful and energetic, not bashful with the hops.

11-Jan-05 (22 oz bottle: $2.79 at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, CA) If this is their version of an amber ale, I can’t imagine what their IPA would be like. This is rather bitter and hoppy for an amber ale, in fact, it’s totally dominated by the hops. The hops is very bitter and floral with a finish that is reminiscent of grapefruit rinds. There simply isn’t much maltiness to this beer, at least not in comparison to the hops. The nose mirrors the flavor, sweet, floral and hoppy. Moderately sweet, even in the bitter, hoppy finish. Very lively mouthfeel from all the carbonation. Medium amber color. Massively carbonated beer that produces a billowing, off-white head. For the first few minutes, the army of carbonation bubbles in incredible. Despite the multitude of carbonation bubbles rising quickly through the beer, the head eventually settles to about half an inch in thickness. A few small globs of head stick to the glass. Lots of sediment sits loosely on the bottom of the bottle. Despite the overall lack of balance, this is still a pretty enjoyable beer, but I’m not sure this really falls into the amber category. (7, 4, 7, 3, 14 = 3.5)

22 oz bottle acquired in trade with DarkElf (thanks!). Opened to a loud PSST and poured with a huge, huge head. Poured a medium and cloudy amber color with an off white head. Aromas of caramel, oranges, flowers, and citrus. Tastes of caramel, grapefruit, citrus and light pine. Nice an hoppy for an Amber ale.