Point Whole Hog Six-Hop IPA

Brewed by Stevens Point Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Stevens Point, Wisconsin USA

12oz bottle served in a shaker pint. Poured a clear amber with about a finger of off white head. Lots of sweet sugary malt in the aroma. There are hops there as well, but they are overwhelmed by the malt. Flavor is more of the same, lots of caramel malt. There are plenty of hops, but the struggle to cut through the sweetness. Medium bodied. A lot of DIPAs are unbalanced to hops, this is the opposite.

Draft at the OF. Filtered deep orange-brown color. Solid foamy head. All sorts of orange-lemon peel bitterness. Lots of hop character though mostly on the bitter citrus end of the spectrum. Thick malt backbone, this is definitely a full-bodied, rich IIPA. A touch unrefined, but I can appreciate the intense bitterness for what it is. Worth a try, sort of like an overly assertive British IPA.

(bottle) medium copper with off white head and nice lace. Grassy/floral hops aroma. Flavor is grassy/floral/pine hops wtih a sweetish malt backbone. Hides the alcohol completely.

Bottle pours coppery with a thin white head. Aroma is more malty than I expected with a light bit of hops. Flavor is bitter hops and a bit of caramel that is in no way balanced or very enjoyable.

Pour is a hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is at first caramel malt with a decent helping of pine hops. Flavor is a decent bitter pine hops, nothing outstanding though. Its ok and something i would get again but it seems like a dumbed downed DIPA for the masses. The hops are there but just for show.

I really liked their Imperial Pilsner, but this is a cascading wall of hops that disappears into a big palate black hole. I would say that you have to work hard to enjoy it, but even working hard doesn’t do it. It has an empty minerally soda pop body that is going into the masaman curry tonight, where it should nicely offset some of the sweetness.

bottle thanks to bu11zeye. The smell is light hops, citrus, pine, and caramel. The look is golden in color, clear, and has a off white head. The taste is light bitterness, hops, pine, and some alcohol.

Stevens Point has made it to Kansas City! I grabbed this IPA along with Point Oktoberfest since it was inexpensive and a brewer I hadn’t tried before. I got: a coppery amber pour with a big, dense off-white head that laced and sheeted nicely (can you say fresh hops?) Smell is amazingly malty and nutty, hiding the 8.5% ABV and the half-dozen varieties of hops well. Caramel malts come through in the flavors as well, but the hops come out of hiding and explode in series, flowery, spicy, bitter, citrus, bitter (I should probably learn which variety is which). Yes, the malt takes some of the spotlight from the 6 hops. Yes, it’s a bit thin. And yes, you don’t get much of a sense of alcohol other than the tingly aftertaste. However, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good beer. In fact, with a bit less alcohol, you could fit this in the plain IPA category and it would do very well!