Sierra Nevada: Hoptimum

Tonight I am starting this blog off with a big one. A big company, a big beer, with big tastes: 

Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum

So lets start by talking about who Sierra Nevada is.

Started in California in 1979, Sierra Nevada has become one of the bigger and more popular craft breweries in America. They are most famous for their Pale Ale, the original brew of the company. They currently produce 780,000 barrels each year, making them a craft brewery by definition. (6 Million bottles or less per year). (Sierra Nevada)

The Hoptimum brew is part of the Limited Selections from Sierra Nevada. This 10.4% ABV Imperial India Pale Ale is rated at 100 IBUs (a scale of bitterness). They used 5 different varieties of hops for what they say challenged them to "push the the extremes of whole-cone hop brewing."

When I opened the bottle I knew I was in for a good time. I could smell the hoppy, citrusy aroma as I poured the bottle into my glass. It was a coppery orange color and was clear. When I smelled it in the glass I could smell pine trees and more hops and more hops and some citrus and more hops (not surprisingly). 

As I began to drink it, the hops and bitterness was strong, very strong. As I got further into it though, I began to pick up on some other, more complex, interesting tastes. I could at one moment taste grapefruits, and another pine trees (like I smelled earlier). I enjoyed these moments because I was happy I could pick out the different tastes from one another. I let the beer sit for a while and picked it back up to find that the hops had returned and thats how it finished for me. It was very crisp when I started drinking, and the finish of each drink was long and lingered in my mouth until I drink again. I think this is a reason I like the more hoppy drinks, they stick around longer and give you time to think about them. 

Here is a link to the Beer Advocate Review site for Hoptimum. I will be posting links here with each beer I talk about so you can see what others (more experienced than I) are saying about it.

I enjoyed this beer. It was a little strong on the ABV side, but I knew that going in and expected it. It was a nice beer to relax with this evening. I think the crisp, citrus, hop flavor was welcome after a hot day like today. The only thing I might say is, even though I like the hoppy flavor, I would like to see it work a little more in balance with other flavors. Hoptimum does do this a little for me, but the hops still take the reigns here and I would like to find something with a little bit less hops and little bit more of something else (I'll let you know what it is when I find it).

I'll pour me one more tomorrow and let you know how it is. Until then - Cheers.