Hopnotic India Pale Ale - Cricket Hill Brewing Co.

beerluvr

New Jersey

3.78/5  rDev +17.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours with an average appearing white head settling over lightly haed bright golden toned liquid. Fruity and yeasty nose is replaced by lots of bitter smelling hops...perhapd some Amarillo & Cascades here. Some brief malt sweetness is washed away by lightly biscuity flavors then loads of hops. The hop bitterness is abundant and quite aggressive. The finish is long and bitter, with a fruity quality coming thru the hops at the tail end. This is for sure a hophead's quaffer.

Serving type: bottle

09-19-2004 22:18:05 | More by beerluvr

meathookjones

Virginia

2.98/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This poured out a clear golden yellow color with about 3 fingers worth of fluffy white foam. The head drops rapidly leaving some lacing about the glass as it does. Aroma is fairly mild with floral and earthy hops dominating and notes of citric hops are present as well. The taste seems fairly balanced with sweet malt being met by earth grassy hops blow for blow. A little too much emphasis on the malt in the taste but a pleasant mild taste now the less. The after taste is a bit dry and has a slight bitterness to it. The body is medium to light with a smooth creamy feel to it. This has decent drinkability with the mildness of it and nothing inherently flawed except the malt concentration. Not a bad beer but nothing to get excited over. Thanks for the brew Lupe and BIF 14.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2004 14:23:21 | More by meathookjones

cbl2

New York

3.78/5  rDev +17.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance:

No best by date indicated. Pours a dark gold with about a quarter inch of white head that has excellent retention. Decent carbonation levels are present.

Smell:

Hoppy, as one would expect from an IPA, though not as focused as many IPA's. While the typical spicyness is apparent, there is something odd going on as well.

Taste/Mouthfeel:

A very well balanced IPA, which I wasn't expecting from the aroma. Hops are predominant, and make themselves known immediately, but there is also a strong malt contingent that appears mid-sip, and rides it out until the end.

Licorice flavors appear towards the end along with an herbal presence. Really quite drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2004 01:33:07 | More by cbl2

rajendra82

Georgia

3.03/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

The beer had a body with quite pale golden color and a decent sized lasting head. The carbonation was medium and steady. The aroma was very grassy hops that were a bit sulfurous. and off putting. The taste was much better than the aroma first suggested, with a very sweet malty backbone, buttery diacetyl, and very slight herbal hop bite. A bit thicker in mouthfeel tan most English style IPAs, this beer feels syrupy and a bit too malt accented. The alcohol content is not listed, but with the beer had a nice warming effect on my insides. If they had thrown in some more hops to bring this closer in line with the rest of the beers in the style, this would have fared much better.

Thanks Lupe and BIF 10 for this one.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2004 03:34:21 | More by rajendra82

Gavage

New Jersey

3.55/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Sparkling clear yellowish / orange color. The head was 1"+ and was fluffy white, but it disappeared quickly. Some minor lacing occurs. The aroma is mildly floral and grassy. The flavor is a decent balance of malt and bitterness, though not overwhelming. Some light grapefruit, lemon, and grassy notes are in the background but do add to the flavor ever so slighlty.

The mouthfeel is light - medium in body, with a smooth start and a long slighlty bitter finish. Drinkability is all right, but this IPA does not get the tastebuds hoppin'...

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2004 19:30:50 | More by Gavage

RonfromJersey

New Jersey

2.9/5  rDev -9.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

One on NJ's lesser know breweries introduces a new beer, and totally revamped packaging. Gone are the seascapes, in is a very stylistic modern label, featuring, finally, a cricket.

Pours a surprisingly bright gold, crystal clear, with a solid two finger level head. Bits of lacing hang about the glass.

Nose features some grass and hay, but no citrus, no earthliness. Very laid back.

Caramel glides across the tongue, followed by a wash of herbal hoppiness which bathes the entire mouth. Pleasant hop aftertaste can force a smile. Its nice, if very low key. Very soft, there's no bite and plenty of balance. Pleasant, but not what you would expect.

Good round mouthfeel, nothing watery at all. Certainly drinkable.

Leave off the label, and I would say this is a solid golden ale with an above average mouthfeel. Call this an IPA with a name like "Hopnotic" and in the summer of Smuttynose it seems to be a felony case of false advertising. Not a terrible beer, but not what it's made up to be.

Serving type: bottle

07-17-2004 04:00:06 | More by RonfromJersey