Opa-Opa Steakhouse Buckwheat IPA

Brewed by Opa-Opa Steakhouse and Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Southampton, Massachusetts USA

Bottle at Travis’ (El_Duderino) house. Pours with an amber body topped by a meidum thick head with little lacing. It’s slightly sweet yet bitter with a woody, hayey hop note. Medium and slightly dry.

(12oz bottle, just Opa Opa IPA, no mention of Buckwheat) Lightly hazed amber body with small off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, floral/orange, some apricot. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit/orange, some dusky. Light-medium body, light resin. A mellower IPA, an APA in balance and hop intensity if not the alcohol. In fact, the ABV is all that stops this from being a solid session beer.

Pours with a cream, three-finger, rocky head that goes slowly to a ring and leaves some lace. Light carbonation and medium bodied. Almost clear amber color. Nose is a fruity hop. Flavor follows the nose with the fruity hoppiness and a bitter finish. Typical IPA. $1.65 for a 12oz bottle from Colonial Spirits, Acton, MA.

Bottle under the "Hop Express" label. Orange-golden and still, slightly hazy. Very mild aroma of some earthy hop. The flavor is quite rustic ... tart and dirty, musty and tart with a hop bit, over a frenetic swirl of quality malt. Very nice, thick and charactered hoppy brew. (#3234, 12/3/2007)

Pours a chill haze light copper with a foamy head and lasts a bit with nice lace. Aroma is good herbal and floral hops with decent citrus american balance- some ligth cascade lemony orange metallicness with some cracker and light toasty malts. Good floral hop flavor and medium caramel sweetness. Mederate hop bitterness- seems a bit too clean and has that character from saratoga where it says it is contracted from. Slight slick finish. At first I didnt lke it at all, now it is pretty drinkable for a regular session IPA.

My Bottom Line:
Toasted crackers and wooden hops dwell within this lean and clean IPA before a few scattered oranges tag along the levelled grassy bitterness. This is another professional brew from Opa-Opa, but it is outshined by many other quality IPAs available in Massachusetts, imho.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slice of foam tops the hazy golden amber.
-The malt structure is a tad crunchy, but rather ordinary.
-Balance is achieved in this simple and drinkable example.
-Carbonation is lively, perhaps masking some of the malts’ flavors.
-This is not aromatic enough for the style.

Bottle and on tap.

Bottle, labeled Opa-Opa IPA: transparent orange amber with a spotty-lacing clingy white head. Aroma of fresh grapefruity hops, and sweet toasty pale malt. Starts with a nice slightly caramely maltiness and big crisp resiny hoppy notes toward a balanced bittersweet finish. A nice IPA.

Pours a cloudy golden color with a thin white head. Good aroma of fruity, floral hops with some spicyness. Good flavor of floral and fruity hops with malt, there’s also a spicy feeling in there and it finishes with bitterness.