Ace Of Spades - Hopworks Urban Brewery

HopHead84

California

3.45/5  rDev -18.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

4/23/2010

Thanks! I've been looking forward to this one since it won gold at GABF in 2009. On the bottle I see "ORGANIC BEER" and "SUSTAINABLE" in bold typeface, yet sadly...no bottle date. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't care what you brew it with or how sustainable your process is if you don't respect the beer enough to bottle date it. ESPECIALLY an Imperial IPA. But, enough about my views on the importance of IPA freshness. Printing "ORGANIC" on the label is ostensibly more important than meaningless information like how long the beer has been sitting on the shelf. I feel so much better about myself after having read those words that temporal triviality is no longer a concern.

Poured from a bomber, the beer is dark orange with a frothy beige head, good retention, and minimal lacing. The beer displays good clarity.

In the nose I find perfumy pine, grapefruit rind, and orange pith. There is a pretty decent malt foundation that provides sweetness, reminds me of caramel, and lends a candied quality to the citrus. Alcohol is evident but it's neither detracting nor distracting in the aroma. The beer smells awesome.

The taste exhibits vibrant hop flavors in the form of bitter grapefruit, orange pith, and pine resin. This is not a dry Imperial IPA, and the sweet malt is caramel in character. This has the makings of a good Imperial IPA flavor, if not for the ridiculous alcohol presence. The booze is overpowering, and that's not something that can be remedied with age because of the style. What you taste is what you get, and this is an alcohol bomb. This is the rare case where the beer drinks like one 2-3% higher in ABV. The underlying flavors are quite good, but the alcohol profile is brutal. The finish is a bestial onslaught of bitterness and alcohol burn. Ouch. The beer displays a moderate level of carbonation and a sticky mouthfeel.

I have difficulty believing this particular batch would have won gold at GABF. The hop aroma and taste are great, but the alcohol in the flavor is monolithic and distracting. I'm working my way through the first small tulip and I can already tell that this will be a bit of a chore to finish.

Serving type: bottle

04-24-2010 05:44:35 | More by HopHead84

djbreezy

Washington

3.78/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I've had this both on tap at the brewery and out of a bottle. This review is observed from a 22oz bottle poured into a belgian-style stemmed glass. Even had a foil cap on it from the release...nice.

appearance - pours with a nice head, leaves some lacing on the glass, transparent orange/amber

smell - piney and resinous hops on the nose, very earthy smell

taste - incredibly piney hops, some caramel malts back this thing up, but as you continue to drink it the hops dominate, finishes with an alcohol and bitter taste

mouthfeel - medium, silky, light carbonation

drinkability - while the hops dominate this beer and make it very delightful, the alcohol is really strong and i get wasted just thinking about the beer

I have to warn...in the two times I've drank this beer it has given me a horrible hangover. I'm rarely destroyed by beers like this so don't be surprised if you experience a similar situation.

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2010 05:35:59 | More by djbreezy