Legend Hopfest

Brewed by Legend Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Richmond, Virginia USA

22 oz bomber poured a hazy golden-orange with an enormous light tan fluffy head. Aroma was hoppy with some citrus and floral notes. A pine bitterness is the first thing you get that gives way to a bitter grapefruit. Not bad but a bit bitter for me

Bottle. Sparkling copper/amber body topped by a pleasing and lasting head. Light butterscotch in the aroma, not as pronounced as other Legend brews, grapefruit and some bready malts. The flavor is wonderful, a mix of the house yeast (buttery), huge loads of hops (mainly citrus) and bready malts. Crisp medium body with a lingering bitter finish. I really dig this stuff.
Earlier Rating: 10/12/2004 Total Score: 3.8
Pours a hazy golden-orange with an enormous light tan fluffy head. The aroma is quite hoppy, citrus and floral. Hugely hoppy flavor, citurs, grass, and some floral. Big bitterness throughout. Decent malt balance, mildly sweet and bready. Medium body with lots of bitterness bite. Legend continues to impress, truly an excellent brewrey that is not on the national radar. These guys know how to brew and they show mastery of the harder to brew styles (pils, lager, etc...) as well as with the hoppy ales.

The 2006 12th anniversary edition of this beer is a step up in many ways. Heck, it is an entirely different beer. Hops have gone to a combination of Simcoe and Amarillo, and alcohol clocks in at 6.5%. The biscuity malts make themselves known, and the classic hop flavors are present (grapefruit, touch of pineapple, and pine) but not acrid. This, in fact, was fantastic. But I’m a sucker for most Legend beers.
Earlier Rating: 7/17/2004 Total Score: 3.9
They have been toying with this one for a while now, but this is the first time I was ever able to track down a bottle to try. Medium orange, decent head that fades slow and leaves a very nice lacing. Aroma is pure hop astringency, plenty of pine tar, a bit of grapefruit, and bitterness actually hits your nose. In the mouth, pine flavors are up front, followed by the bitter grapefruit flavor. The aftertaste is almost reminiscent of sucking on an aspirin it is so bitter. This is by no means thin bodied, and it has a good mouthfeel. But the malts aren’t just in the backseat, they are stuck back in the trunk of this beer. Although bitter to the point of being almost unpleasant (and I view Ruination as being well balanced), I really liked this. NOTE: had the cask version on 7/18/04 at CAH, malts made themselves known more, far more balanced, a hint of anise flavor in the hops. I’ll leave my original rating as so few will get to try the cask version, but I would probably bump the score up to a 4.1 NOTE: 2007 was a bit thin, just hops and not much else. 2008 has some balance back and in fact rocked.

Thanks to Immy for grabbing this one! Poured a copper color, to medium orange. Nose was of mild floral. Flavor was much of the same, or lack of the same to be exact. Not much going on, except for a lot of bitter. Ehh.

Bomber. Pours a coppery color, thick white head. Seriously carbonated and leaves thick lace to the bottom of the glass. Plenty o’ hop in the nose - citrusy and floral. Flavor is spicy and seriously bitter hops. Not citrusy, but a spicy bitter. Finish is more spicy hops and a bit of citrus, with some medium maltiness finally working it’s way through.

A tangy spiced citrus aroma, pines and oranges are very evident. Medium off-white head with a reddish brown body. Heavy hops leading to a very bitter taste. A little too much pine in this beer however.

22 oz. Bottle. Pour with copper color, and a thick, lingering fluffy white head. Can deffinatey taste the hops. Orange, grapefruit, and lemon flavors. Pretty good.

Pours copper with a two-finger white head. Pine and citrus in the aroma, with some soapiness. A little spicy, as well. Some malt aromas, but the hoppiness is dominant. Very spicy flavor, with more grassiness and sweet malt notes than I found in the aroma. Great hop bitterness in the finish, but the hop flavor in the beginning and middle is a little too spicy for this one to be more than quite good. Good, slightly oily mouthfeel.