Beers in Review: FourTwenty Special

Today (well, at the time of writing this post anyway) is April 20th. For those immersed in cannabis culture, 420 (pronounced four-twenty) is a counter-culture holiday that celebrates the use marijuana. According to Wikipedia, the number 420 was chosen for the following reason:

The origin of the term stems from a story about a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, United States in 1971. The teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue. The exact time was chosen because that was the time that afternoon detention was dismissed.

I won’t lie, I’ve partaken of the wacky tabacky. Nothing regular, mostly opportunistic, as in “it was being passed around and I didn’t want to be rude to I partook”. I’ve learned the hard way that smoking up and getting drunk do not mix well with me. In fact, many of the times I don’t remember but was told about the next day while nursing the mother of all hangovers was because I had mixed the two. So no more mixing for me. I’ve chosen my vice and it’s beer.

That being said, I decided to review IPAs for this week’s Beer in Review segment. If you didn’t know already, hops are related to marijuana so it only made sense to pick up highly hopped beers to commemorate the event.

IPA, Lagunitas, 5.70% ABV, 45.6 IBU

Lagunitas is definitely one of those breweries that is all about the “counter-culture”. I’ve heard some interesting stories regarding the work day at Lagunitas. Since I wasn’t there, I can’t really repeat what I’ve heard, especially if it wasn’t true. All I can say is that the happy people make happy beer.

The IPA pours out a clear, bright amber color with a white/off-white head. The aroma has a surprising maltiness that I wasn’tn expecting that is toasty with caramel notes. The hop aroma is lighter than I thought it would be and has hints of pine and citrus. The IPA has a strong malt character in the flavor. It is toasty, caramel, with a slight roastiness. The hop flavor has hints of citrus and pine while the bitterness is pleasant, soft on the palette and gently lingers. The body is medium-full/full while the carbonation is medium-high/high.

I must say that the Lagunitas IPA is nothing like I thought it would be. I was expecting a hoppy IPA and what I have before me is more malty but in an old sort of way. There’s no “born on date” on the bottle but the beer tastes like it’s been on the shelf for a while. The thing is, I’m actually liking it. A complex malt character in an IPA is a good thing. Then again, I could be wrong. If you’ve had the Lagunitas IPA before, let me know if you experienced the same thing.

Hop Henge Experimental IPA, Deschutes, 8.75% ABV, 95 IBU

Hop Henge is brewed by Deschutes and released under their Bond Street label. The Bond Street Series of beers was named after the original Deschutes brewery and public house. The beers developed under this label are meant to be fun beers and different from their regular series.

Hop Henge pours out a dark copper/brown color with an off-white head. The aroma is piney in character and is floral and perfumey. The malt aroma definitely takes a back seat and is sweet smelling. There’s a noticeable alcohol note.. The beer has an assertive hop bitterness with a piney/resiny flavor. The malt flavor is sweet and has a slight roasty note, caramel character and is enough to balance. Hop Henge is medium bodied with medium-high carbonation. There’s a slight astrigency to the beer that I think is from the assertive hopping. In addition, there’s some alcohol warming as well.

Even though Hop Henge is an “experimental” IPA, it falls into the Imperial IPA category with it’s high alcohol. Hop Henge is definitely a showcase of all good things hops.

Imperial IPA, Green Flash Brewing Company, 9.0% ABV, 101 IBU

San Diego has evolved from a chill, beach-side town into a real destination area for craft beer lovers and Green Flash helped to turn things around. Known for their hop-forward beers, their West Coast IPA is one of the most bitter beers I have ever tasted. Let’s see how the Imperial IPA is.

Imperial IPA has a huge hop aroma that has a big citrus/grapefruit component with floral notes and is pungent. The malt character is sweet but is definitely in the background. There’s also a slight alcohol note. The beer pours out a clear, dark gold/amber color with a white head. The flavor is very hop forward with an aggressive hop bitterness. The hop flavor is piney with citrus undertones.  There’s a pungent quality in the flavor that I can’t quite describe other than ‘pungent’. Catty? Wet blanket? The malt flavor is sweet and has a spiciness from the alcohol. This is a medium/medium-full bodied beer with medium/medium-high carbonation.

I’m not quite sure what to think of this beer. Imperial IPA is a very hop forward beer but I’m not sure if I’m enjoying the specific type of hops being presented. There’s a pungency in the aroma and flavor that I can’t quite place and I’m not enjoying all to much. Still, if you’ve had this beer before, I’d love to hear about your thoughts.

Leafer Madness, Beer Valley Brewing, 9.0% ABV, 100+ IBU

I am unfamiliar with Beer Valley Brewing. According to their website, they were founded in 2005 by brewer Peter Ricks and started production brewing in 2007 in Ontario, Oregon. I thought the name, Leafer Madness, was incredibly appropriate considering what day it is.

Leafer Madness pours our a cloudy amber color with a white/off-white, moussey, long-lasting head. The aroma is floral and perfumy while the malt aroma is grainy and husky. There’s also a cigar-like smoke character to the aroma. The alcohol is also noticeable. This beer is also aggressively hoppy but the hop character is much more palatable. The hop flavor is fruity in nature while the hop bitterness is soft. The malt flavor is sweet and enough to balance. The body is medium/medium-full in body and high in carbonation.

Hop lovers will love this beer and the cloudiness suggests that this beer isn’t filtered or pasteurized. A big plus.

Overall

Sammy was my tasting partner tonight and these notes are a combination of both of our experiences. We both enjoyed the Lagunitas IPA and it’s malty character. Between the 3 IPAs though, we felt the enjoyed the Hop Henge the most. It was the most balanced between the three while still having an excellent hop character.

At the time of this post, we hit record setting temperatures. It reached the mid-90s today and drinking beers in the 9% range makes the warm weather warmer. I’m glad I arranged the beers from lowest IBU to highest IBU because you can never go back with hop bitterness. I’m sure that if we tried the highest IBU beers first our palettes would’ve been blown for the others.

I hope you enjoyed our 420 Beer in Review special. Feel free to leave comments, especially if you’ve had experience with these beers already. I’m always looking to get feedback regards these reviews.

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