HopStar IPA - Knee Deep Brewing Company

chrisrose30

California

1.93/5  rDev -38.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Poured this beer into my Port Brewing pint glass.

A: Slightly fizzy head, light amber in color - not much here to look at.

S: Not picking up much scent, aside from some sweetness that smells a bit rotten.

T: The hoppiness in this beer either masks any flavor that is present, or there are very few flavors here at all. Ink, rotten apple, and hops.

O: Not a beer I'd buy again - this one was with the white label, and may have come from a bad batch.

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2012 16:34:02 | More by chrisrose30

blackcloud

Alaska

3.25/5  rDev +3.2%

01-03-2013 22:40:05 | More by blackcloud

sevenshubby

California

4.5/5  rDev +42.9%

11-03-2012 06:36:27 | More by sevenshubby

t0rin0

California

4/5  rDev +27%

10-19-2012 02:15:45 | More by t0rin0

dmorgan310

Michigan

4/5  rDev +27%

09-14-2012 16:49:02 | More by dmorgan310

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

3.58/5  rDev +13.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

This is a very hoppy IPA. But the odd part about it is that it's extremely malty at the same time. The two sides come together and give a bit of an unusual drinking experience. it has the IBUs (all 75 of 'em!), but the malty tones make it kind of a weird one. It's drinkable, sure. But it doesn't really translate into any degree of brewing prowess to me. And, the price was way too high for what was delivered.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2012 06:02:44 | More by RblWthACoz

nataku00

California

2.23/5  rDev -29.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

Bottle poured into a tulip glass. Beer pours a deep dark amber color, mostly clear, with two finger of foamy bubbly off white head. Head leaves a lot of lacing as it dissipates slowly to half a finger of head.

Nose is light grapefruit, herbal, and pine hops with dark caramel malt presence. Not too strong of an aroma.

Taking a sip, herbal bitterness, woody and grassy. Very bitter. A bit of caramel malt sweetness tries its best to show up mid tongue. Herbal and earthy bitterness just lingers on the tongue and back of throat after swallowing. A bit unpleasant.

Medium body, slick and oily with resinous hops. Really not my type of IPA, with the heavy bitter herbal flavor. Reminds me of Chinese medicinal teas that my parents would make me drink when younger.

Serving type: bottle

03-02-2012 03:09:15 | More by nataku00

HopHeadRyan

Pennsylvania

2.15/5  rDev -31.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A - Nice crystal-clear copper orange, decent 1" head, fades quickly and leaves a bit on the surface, seemed really fizzy when it poured, some good lacing.

S - Initial bottle sniff was awesome...strong tropical fruits, a hint of pine, and citrus zest. Once poured the smell is on the sweeter side, kind of cakey...imagine a pineapple upside down cake fresh from the oven...maybe a little bit of resiny pine...tobacco...

T - Very strange...extremely fruity...the bitterness is not nice its a bit unpleasant...tastes like tuti-fruity candy syrup...maybe they used some adjuncts in this? Sweet light caramel but not in a good way.

Overall - The smell and taste are enemies in this brew...this is more of an Amber/Red Ale than an IPA as far as the flavors are concerned.

Not an IPA I will revisit. This brew will definitely not stand up to the great many superb West Coast IPAs out there...Falls miserably short! No thanks. Try at your own risk.

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

02-28-2012 20:00:18 | More by HopHeadRyan

mactrail

California

2.6/5  rDev -17.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Why does this have such a taste of sweet, stale perfume? Clear amber in the tall Stella glass. Head is pretty average but lacing along the glass gives it a decent appearance. Hops are slightly flowery and rather earthy. The general effect is pretty murky. Reminds me of flowering fruit trees that have that rank honey scent. Light bodied. Kind of a dirty aftertaste, bitter but musty.

From a 22 oz bottle purchased in San Francisco. Some of the Knee Deep beers have been pretty good. This is my least favorite so far.

Serving type: bottle

02-04-2012 05:46:48 | More by mactrail

jh1982

Nevada

3/5  rDev -4.8%

01-22-2012 00:10:44 | More by jh1982

ralphw56

Nevada

3.5/5  rDev +11.1%

01-19-2012 04:11:38 | More by ralphw56

MareInfinitus

California

3/5  rDev -4.8%

01-07-2012 19:42:39 | More by MareInfinitus

hiku7

California

2.73/5  rDev -13.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

I had tried some of Knee Deep's other offerings at a recent festival, and had enjoyed talking to the brewer, so I thought I'd give a bomber of their IPA a try.

Pours a cloudy amber copper, with a very thick sticky cream color head. Seemed overcarbonated.

Aroma is piney and slightly citrus tart hop aromas plus a strong dose of caramel malt. Also a slightly medicinal phenolic coming through, which seemed likely unintended.

Taste was similar to the aroma, big and malty, and basically unremarkable, except for an odd smokiness that may have been related to the phenolics. Earthy scorching hops in the back of the throat as well in the finish, but they aren't dominate early in each swallow. I had a hard time getting past the smoky flavor, which should not be in an IPA.

Fairly big chewy body and grainy body. A bit big for an IPA, but also a mouthfeel that I enjoy on a cold evening.

Overall, the grain bill and hop choices were fine, though on the edge of the IPA style, but the out of place smokiness ruined it for me. Probably just a bad batch, but I'll stick to other offerings from Knee Deep and for IPAs.

Serving type: bottle

12-21-2011 16:00:05 | More by hiku7

leprakhan

California

3/5  rDev -4.8%

12-07-2011 08:05:45 | More by leprakhan

brewandbbq

New Hampshire

2.4/5  rDev -23.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

22oz bottle.

Pours clear copper with a quarter inch head of white. A partial skim coat and a few dots of lacing for the duration.

Aromatics are a blend of stale malt, wet cardboard, and old pine sap. Hints of rust and dusty spruce bark.

Medium bodied with a crispish mouthfeel.

Cardboard, old bark, math paper, and sawdust fill the palate. Medium bitterness and some stale malt follow through.

Finishes with loads of wet cardboard and oxidized malt.

This beer is in very poor shape or was just not ever very good. Tasting like a bad homebrew of about two years in the bottle.

Serving type: bottle

12-02-2011 01:41:33 | More by brewandbbq

jeffjeff1

California

2.58/5  rDev -18.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

My wife picked this up for me recently.

Appearance- dark reddish color, thin head

Smell- malt mostly, a bit of hops

Taste- way too malty, not enough hops

Mouthfeel- medium bodied

Drinkability-It doesn't taste too bad but it is bad for an IPA. Way too malty. I don't even know why they call it an IPA.

Serving type: bottle

11-28-2011 04:48:14 | More by jeffjeff1

jenray

Texas

3/5  rDev -4.8%

11-26-2011 14:19:05 | More by jenray

mettkea

Nevada

3/5  rDev -4.8%

11-25-2011 21:34:32 | More by mettkea

Seanibus

California

3.73/5  rDev +18.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I expected another generic contract-brewed IPA for a chain store, and I was pleasantly surprised. At least mildly. It isn't a great IPA, but it is not bad and has more character than a lot of the no-name beers sold by placed like Bev-Mo.

It pours clear amber with a small white head that falls to some lacing. The aroma is bready and toasty with a piny hop overtone. The flavor brings out more of the piny hops with a little citrus and some muskiness on the back of the mouth. Still there is that bready, toastiness. The mouthfeel is fairly smooth with a clingy aromatic hop vapor lingering in the mouth.

Serving type: bottle

10-09-2011 01:16:02 | More by Seanibus

Klym

California

2.8/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Purchased at local grocery store and poured into a stone nonic.

Pretty mediocre IPA overall.. Tastes like an intermediate level homebrew with dark-fruit flavor forwardness and aspirin bite to the hops. No complexity or depth beyond that with a dry, overly bitter finish.

Serving type: bottle

09-10-2011 01:34:35 | More by Klym

BrewerB

California

4/5  rDev +27%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Excellent clarity, well proportioned off-white head that retains itself. Pours a medium orange. Fruity hops in the nose with orange, grapefruit, and mango all making presence. Slight salty grain notes. Light esters but mostly clean fermentation character. First sip says make no mistake, this is most certainly a strong rendition of the American IPA style. Dank, herbal hoppy character with subtler orange rind above a clean malt backbone. Fruity/herbal hop notes persist in the medium, dry finish. Medium-light bodied, moderate level of carbonation.

Overall this IPA packs a punch, loaded up with dank and fruity hop characters that keep me reaching for another sip. I could certainly knock back a few at my local bar without giving the rest of the beer menu a second glance.

Serving type: bottle

08-19-2011 02:41:53 | More by BrewerB

Trilogy31

California

3.23/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear maple syrup amber with a finger of head that leaves sticky lacing. The nose has honeyed sweet malt, candied citrus along with a tropical note (guava or kiwi?). The taste muddles the flavors a bit with pine hops fighting alongside sweet malt and citrus/fruit. Not impressive as its not very harmonious and with competing flavors dont let any of them shine. It easy to drink with nice carbonation though the taste is a bit of a let down.

Serving type: bottle

06-17-2011 04:08:05 | More by Trilogy31

sholland119

Pennsylvania

3.7/5  rDev +17.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A-Pours a clear light honey with hints of apricot. Well carbonated, leaving a lot of frothy off white head and good sticky sheets of lacing.

S-A little light in the aroma. Mostly caramel malt and a hint of citrus.

T-Taste is better than expected. Nice bitterness mixed with a very solid malty backbone. A bit one dimensional in flavor but still a pleasant bitter IPA.

M-Medium bodied, good lingering bitterness is not overdone.

O-Overall a tasty beverage. Not great, but certainly nice. I would drink these gladly.

HV

Serving type: bottle

06-03-2011 22:28:44 | More by sholland119

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.1/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Had this during a session of disc golf last weekend, unfortunately for the beer, it was after a growler of the super awesome Bruery Humulus XPA.

Pours out a standard amber ale appearance, a little darker than expected for what bills itself as an ipa. Aroma was a little citrusy, nice little perk. Taste, more east coast ipa balanced malt, hop mouthfeel was very minimal, alcohol and acrid bitterness were up there, hop taste was not. The buttery aspect of this batch was a little less than previous. Would appreciate more dry hop characteristics (or hops period) and tame the fusel alcohol feel on this one.

Serving type: bottle

03-16-2011 18:39:00 | More by Beerandraiderfan

kaseydad

California

3.1/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Amber colored pour with an off-white foamy head which quickly disappears. Wet dog smell with some malt and citrus in the mix. Not great. Malt bomb! Very malty with more malt on the swallow and aftertaste...though there is a bitterness kick at the end. A little too malty for my tastes and too malty for an IPA in my opinion.

Serving type: on-tap

02-26-2011 21:41:24 | More by kaseydad