Hop Dam Triple IPA
Bottle, home. Good beer but a bit disappointing. This beer pours a pretty standard shade of orange-gold with a nice head, a shade or two of yellow past white. The aroma packs a lot of hops. It seems to run a bit more piney, but the big three American hop aromas, pine, grapefruit and floral, are present and accounted for. DIPAs seem to be locked in a battle for most fragant and Hop Dam does well in this regard, but I'd honestly prefer something more than pure strength at this point. The flavor is just a bit too astringent/paint thinner heavy to compete with the best DIPAs. It's nice and bitter, and I'm certainly not scared off by the astringency, but the best DIPAs (looking at you PtY) just drink smoother. Mouthfeel is a tad rough. I've just been bowled over too many times by too many other super-hopped DIPAs to be all that impressed by this sort of no-holds-barred take on the style. That said, I love hops, and this beer certainly provides a hop fix.