River Horse Hopalotamus

Brewed by River Horse Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Lambertville, New Jersey USA

Pours an orange-amberish color with a small head. Resinous and grapefruit peel in the aroma. A pretty nice hint of caramel also. Flavor is really hoppy and nice. Christmas tree sap, citrus peel and a nice balancing dose of malt.

Bottle from a New Jerseyan coworker. Pours hazy dark straw with off-white head. Nose is malty, heavily resiny hoppy, with some citrus, peppery, and fruity notes. Tastes very hoppy, with a solid malt bill, and some peppery, tangerine, and a twinge of an off plastic flavor in the first bottle which did not reappear in the other 3 of the 4-pack. I agree with the prior rater who stated that the flavors just don’t seem to gel together quite as well as they should, but that is a relatively minor beef.

Light tan medium statured head with decent retention and a small amount of stringy lace. Hazy amber/orange color. Nose is light grapefruit, caramel malts, light melon notes and a hint of alcohol as it warms up. Med/full body, fairly well carbonated, lightly oily on the palate, tinny, resiny. Flavors follow suit with the aroma along with some metallic notes,orangey and fruity. Malts are way in the background though lightly sweet and grainy. Big bittering hops in the flavor and finish. A pretty manly DIPA from these guys, unexpected! Surprisingly aggressive for an east coast DIPA. Props to RH for going for it! Bottle procured @statelineliquors.

Cask at Rattle N Hum. I love my hoppy beers on cask, makes them really pop and this was no exception. Does pour an odd murky iced tea color, nose is super fresh hops, not super resiny but definitely very nice. Some citrus and some herbal qualities, kind of like good German hops. On taste, big body props up the robust hop character. You don’t taste much malt at all, but the body sure is present and dries out very well. A great find for my first NJ beer.

Yup, it’s unfiltered, but kind of a comforting muddy brown, like terrible iced tea but in this case it works. Pleasant hoppy aroma, nice IPA taste. Doesn’t hit you over the head. A pretty good offering from River Horse.

Bottle. Poured a cloudy orange body with nice head. Aroma is grassy, piney. Flavor has an abrasiveness hop presence, sugary, grassy.

Bottle. Pours an orange copper body with a white head. Pine, citrus, hints of grapefruit and grass. Sweet malty character comes across almost fruity. Mild etoh warming. A significant improvement for RH.

Cask at RnH. Poured copper amber with a thin head. Wonderful fresh sweet hops in the aroma. A citrus and tropical fruit delight. The flavor has floral and citric hops, with some candy sweetness and a dash of tropical fruit. Very good.