Hoptical Illusion - Blue Point Brewing Company

yeahnatenelson

Illinois

1.6/5  rDev -57.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

Another extra courtesy of cosmicevan. Cheers!

Appearance -- Pours a pale iodine-tinted orange, high clarity, with half a finger of fizzy white head. Meh.

Smell -- Dab of honey malt sweetness, dry bread, floral hops, and a faint mineral character.

Taste -- Bready malt, hint of amber roastiness, mild honey sweetness, and floral hops. Bitterness on the palate is lacking, though the finish brings about an unpleasant bitterness akin to swallowing a gnat.

Mouthfeel -- Medium-light in body with harsh fizzy carbonation and a dry, slighty astringent finish. I really don't like.

Overall -- Miss. Had I not known this was an IPA, I would have guessed perhaps a ho-hum Altbier. Really uneventful, plus the amount of forced carbonation makes this feel like BMC. Pass.

Serving type: bottle

09-17-2011 00:07:47 | More by yeahnatenelson

JG-90

New Jersey

2.08/5  rDev -44.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Bottle into glass

A - Pours medium-large head, recedes to a small head with minimal lacing

S - Not a strong smell, malt, bread, perhaps a little citrus/ flower as well

T - At first is light and rather tasteless for an IPA, finishes with bitterness and alcohol flavor

M - high carbonation, very light body for an IPA

O - Just not enough flavor to go along with the alcohol bite and bitterness for an IPA. I think that cutting down on the alcohol bite would make this a good beer.

Serving type: bottle

12-16-2012 20:44:50 | More by JG-90

2.25/5  rDev -40.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Grabbed this bottle out of a friends fridge the other day. Usually enjoy a nice IPA, not this one.
The citrus taste is overwhelming to me, really hard to pick up on any other flavors, even the hops are masked.
Almost tasted grapefruit-ish, which I didn't care fore and just all around acidic.
Won't try again, but then again, its just not my style!

Serving type: bottle

12-24-2011 17:12:37 | More by

sbw138

Pennsylvania

2.42/5  rDev -35.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured a slightly cloudy very pale copper to dark yellow color. Did not retain very much head. Any lacing was minimal. Initial smell was somewhat sweet, especially for an IPA, I really couldn't put my finger on it. Tasted very flat, not like an IPA. I checked for a born on date, because I thought the hops may have lost their punch by sitting in the cooler too long. Tasted more like a very weak pale ale, than an IPA. I was disappointed, and would not purchase again.

Serving type: bottle

05-04-2009 01:52:24 | More by sbw138

hays23

Georgia

2.45/5  rDev -35%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 2

Just such a bland beer. The appearance looks like your typical IPA. The hoppiness is certainly there. It hits you full in the mouth mid-sip, but the flavor is just not great. The after-taste leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, the after-taste is just bad. I love the IPA, but this beer doesn't really do it for me at all. Try a Sweetwater instead.

Serving type: bottle

11-04-2012 06:22:19 | More by hays23

ryrust5301

Louisiana

2.48/5  rDev -34.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Appearance - A bronze colored ipa poured into my glass. A lot of life to this one, with lots of carbonation shooting up from the bottom. Head didn't amount to much, but the lacing is of adequate proportions.

Smell - There isn't really much of a sell. Just a whisper of hops and some malt undertones with a dash of honey. Has a bit of a musty hoppy scent to it.

Taste & Mouthfeel - Bland to say the least, with a metallic aftertaste to it. Watery in some areas, but the malt backbone does seem to hold up somewhat well. Thank goodness it does too, because it gives this one somewhat of a flavor. Feel is very thin and flat, nothing sticks to the mouth at all and it washes right down.

Drinkability - I really hope this was an older bottle, cause I wouldn't revisit this if this was their best effort. Either way it was a very so so experience.

Serving type: bottle

07-07-2009 04:21:16 | More by ryrust5301

maximum12

Minnesota

2.53/5  rDev -32.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Thanks to martin123012 for filling up my fridge with some hoppy goodness. A 12 oz. bottle sorely needed to soothe the nerves after listening the the clamor of a horde of 10-11 year old girls all night.

Pop goes the top, hand grabs the glass, & voila'! The bottle runneth over with foam. The pour doesn't seem so aggressively carbonated, light yellow. Not much sensory stuff coming off the surface, I have to sniff hard to come up with faint oily hops & sweet malt.

Hoptical Illusion is a beer I pursued because it's cousin, Rasta Rye, was so damn good, I hope this would follow in its footsteps. Negatory. One of the blandest tasting beers I've had in a long time - like the nose, there just ain't much home. Little sweet, little grain, grass, then a tiny hop tug of bitterness at the end. Weak, thin, almost watery.

This beer is boring, which almost worse than being really bad. All I taste is blahblahblah. Sub this for a micro & hardly anyone would notice. Sub-mediocre all the way.

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2012 02:26:07 | More by maximum12

HUXC

New York

2.63/5  rDev -30.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

S- Served from a chilled 12 oz bottle into a pint glass.

A- An amber yellow, dark golden color. About a finger and a half to two fingers of white head.

S- Smells full of hops and other bitter seasonings. Average smelling IPA

T- I'm not the worlds biggest fan of IPA's so my judgment is slightly tainted, however the taste of this beer is exploding with hops and other flavors that really bring this beer together. Bitter lighter style IPA.

M- Moderate to high amounts of carbonation with a crisp finish.

D- I don't love IPA's so to me it was a little rough to put down, but it wasn't the worst IPA i've ever had.

Serving type: bottle

09-22-2010 02:45:46 | More by HUXC

brantadid

New Jersey

2.65/5  rDev -29.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Poured a golden orange color into a pint glass. Very little head with no lacing.

Smelled of very faint hops with some pine. A little citrus came through as the beer warmed.

Tasted slightly sweet and acidic on the front palate. Mid palate was somewhat flowery.

Mouthfeel was very thin and carbonation was moderate.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2007 03:28:49 | More by brantadid

Stunner97

New Jersey

2.68/5  rDev -28.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Appearance -amber in color with moderate white head, larger sized bubbles slowly stream the glass

Smell- nice hops on the nose with certainly a decent malt presence there too, slight grapefruit and citrus hops,

Taste- light grapefruit hop upfront and light mild bitter finish guides the way, slight malt in the mid palate, very overall un complex and simple, not bad but just really nothing much going on just kinda falls flat in the overall flavor department, thin flavor

Mouthfeel- very light and smoothly carbonated

Drinkability- just not something I would be really rushing to drink another one of just kind of boring and uncomplex, with so many good ipas available wont be going back to this one,

Serving type: bottle

08-03-2010 09:06:53 | More by Stunner97

neophilus

Massachusetts

2.68/5  rDev -28.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

A fluffy, white head crowns the top of this crystal clear brew. The head slides off the sides of the glass but maintains some body as it slowly dies down. The color is of a pure yellow I normally associate with a pilsener - neither straw-like nor possessing any amber hue. Within a few moments the head has fully died down.

I go in looking for hop aroma but I get mostly malt up front. I look more carefully and find the hops I'm looking for, but quite faint and hiding behind the sweet and heavy malt scent. After some warming I am reminded of the unpleasant odor of a bar after the late night crowd has been ushered out.

I take a first sip - but something is missing. There is a dull and flat bitterness that hangs over my tongue. The taste is slick and oily, there are hops here but they are not coming out to play. It is definitely hoppy but more bitter than flavor or aroma. The aftertaste leaves mild bitterness with more oily hop residue. Letting the beer warm does nothing to improve the beer and brings out a sticky malt flavor.

I've had this beer about a year ago and remember liking it much more than this. I will try this beer again in the future to see if this 6 pack was not fresh or a fluke and if so re-rate accordingly.

Serving type: bottle

05-07-2011 00:40:11 | More by neophilus

Luigi

North Carolina

2.7/5  rDev -28.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

Pours out a clear golden color with a two finger head at the start. Kind of a fizzy white head that settles in to a thin lace.

The aroma is not typical of an American IPA. Reminds me of an abbey ale for some reason. Many hints of sour fruit, sweetness of malt and alcohol. The bitter hops are not the dominate aroma as one would expect from an IPA.

The taste again is not typical of an American IPA. That does not make this ale terrible to drink. Sweet malt, citrus sourness, but the hops seem to lack but they are present. It finished dry with a lingering hop bitterness and alcohol sweetness.

Light body and easy to drink. Be careful because the ABV will creep up on you.

Over all I expected a more dry hopped based IPA. After all the IPA is named Hoptical Illusion. But, at the same time it is very drinkable. However, if you are looking for a typical American IPA this is not the brew to go for.

Serving type: bottle

09-30-2011 06:22:11 | More by Luigi

donniecuffs

New Jersey

2.73/5  rDev -27.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured a decent amber/orange color, with a thin head that didn't lace well. The smell was imbalanced to the sickeningly sweet citrus side, like a mix between ripe pineapple and blood orange, and the taste confirmed this. The flavor was very imbalanced, and certainly would benefit from some more floral hops. The mouthfeel was thinner than expected, but also more carbonated than expected. I love citrus in my ipa's, but this one was over the top for my taste and way too imbalanced.

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2009 05:55:12 | More by donniecuffs

FlyingRabbit

Maryland

2.73/5  rDev -27.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Not a horrible IPA, but certainly not one that lives up to its very bright label.

Picked this up at a local store, as part of a "Sixer Mixer".

Poured from bottle to standard beer pint glass.

A: Not much of a head, and whatever there was went down within seconds. Color was golden/orange. Almost an amber color. Looked appetizing.

S: Smelled of citrus and berries.

T: Nice hoppy aftertaste. Loses all character once hits mouth.

M: Carbonation abounded, with a slightly too thin feel.

D: Went down easy, but I'm an IPA fan, so might be a little more easy on it.

Probably not buying this again. It didn't do it for me, and while it went down easy enough, it wasn't really enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

10-27-2009 22:14:48 | More by FlyingRabbit

Donner

Connecticut

2.83/5  rDev -24.9%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 3

Impulse buy. This beer pours a light brown similar to most fall brews. Thin lacing remains. It smells quite good, and surprisingly hoppy for a 6.8%. Smells bitter, too. Mouthfeel is sour and sticky, coppery aftertaste. There are hops in there, but not enough. For such a strong hop smell, it now seems artificially scented. I really dislike the mouthfeel. This beer was brewed in Jersey but has a name that sounds as though it came from California. Not very good, unfortunately.

Serving type: bottle

09-12-2009 00:43:52 | More by Donner

Fusion_Pirate

2.83/5  rDev -24.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

A: Poured from a cold 12oz bottle into a New Holland Brewing glass, Hoptical Illusion yielded a half-finger of white head which immediately dissipated. Minor lacing as I tilt the glass to and fro, with decent retention. The beer itself doesn't look like a whole lot, to be perfectly honest. Perfectly translucent light bronze color, with carbonation bubbles visible. We certainly 'can't judge a beer by its color', but this one is not a looker.

S: A strong, spicy hop scent hits the nose immediately with underlying caramel malt notes.

T: A moderate hop front end hits your palette, immediately followed by a grainy, almost Aspirin-like back end. The weak taste of this beer is rather unremarkable and the carbonation is a bit much for the style. I can't believe this is really a 6.8% ABV brew!

M: Rather oily and moist across the tongue with too much carbonation (as mentioned above).

O: Coming from a microbrewery, this is rather amateur stuff. This beer is more in line with what a 'Michelob take' on the IPA formula might be. A lack of complexity in all aspects, except smell, which is frankly misleading. Casual drinkers might give this a try, but serious IPA connoisseurs, steer clear- Hoptical ILLUSION indeed!

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2012 23:09:36 | More by Fusion_Pirate

garuda

Pennsylvania

2.85/5  rDev -24.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a slightly hazy copper with a small white head, decent retention, and little lacing down the glass.

S - Fruity malts up front with some dates, and floral hops in the background.

T - Malts in the front again, with more notes of dates and prunes. Floral hops don't come in until the aftertaste.

M - Medium body, medium to low carbonation. Good creamy, smooth consistency, but no real hop bitterness I expect in an IPA.

D - I won't be having this one again. When I get an IPA, I like it to have a hop presence. This one definitely didn't have it.

Serving type: on-tap

05-14-2010 21:28:25 | More by garuda

rye726

Colorado

2.9/5  rDev -23.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Golden brown with not much of a tan head. Nose has grassy hops and sweet caramel malt. Taste has more olde hops and sweet malts. Bit of stale/adjunct presence. Not much else. Thin body looked nice in the glass, but was over carbonated. Kind of a watery finish.

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2009 03:16:29 | More by rye726

TLove

District of Columbia

2.9/5  rDev -23.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

12 oz bottle last night in a Iron Hill beer glass.

Pours a thin, goldish-orange tint with a an elusive head. Head comes out a creamy off-white on a more assertive pour. Great scents of caramel malt, lemon, and floral scents of pine and sap. The scent is stronger than the body. The body is pretty thin, and, while flavorful and a relatively high alcohol malt, it doesnt hold as well.

Trying to wrap my mouth around the thinly-veiled, but purveyant hop structure. A little bitter. A little sweet. Nice and crisp on the back end and the flavors do hold well through the finish. Not as balanced as I had hoped, but I suppose thats to be expected from such a light-bodied beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-23-2009 18:48:57 | More by TLove

BeTheBall

Massachusetts

2.9/5  rDev -23.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a clear bronze color with a small head in my Sam Adams Ale glass. Smell was a mix between some hops, and some bready malt. Taste to me was that of a Pale Ale, hop flavor was very balanced with malts, not pronounced for an IPA. Tasty, just not for this style. When I get an IPA, I want hops! Mouthfeel was good, clean and somewhat refreshing to drink (if APA is your thing). Drinkability was good. Goes down easy.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2010 14:12:05 | More by BeTheBall

fx20736

New York

2.93/5  rDev -22.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Tangerine orange, streaked by faint trails of carbonation with two fingers of offwhite head that leaves nice lacing.

Aroma: somewhat muted grapefruit with some bitter orange.

Mouthfeel: solid

Taste: like the aroma, grapefruit with some Orange Marmalade bitterness, medium malt backbone.

Notes: Solid, decent. Not original but that shouldn't be a knock. This is a 'nice' beer which would be an easy entry into the world of the IPA's.

Drank several more bottles and have decided that the beer is too bitter. The bitterness is just overwhelming so i am rescoring.

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2011 20:11:36 | More by fx20736

farrago

New Jersey

2.95/5  rDev -21.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Head tops out at near one finger, smaller foam of light tan color, OK lacing for the type, froth dissipates ratherly quickly. Extremely transparent, the zinc orange color barely tints the liquid, more yellow at the rims, widely dispersed miniscule bubbles visible within. Pink grapefruit and tangerine citrus by far the major factor in the nose, wet straw and grass next, close to bitters, pine cones, quiet green apple and apricot fruit scents, somewhat blurred malts, touch of something muffin-like. Light-bodied and what body is there drops off during the mid-palate. The grapefruit and tangerine citrus here large as well and tease out pineapple, nectarine fruit flavors in addition to apricot and pear. The carbonation is about average, not a big plus or minus. Astringency on the finish cancels out any show of florality. Once more, the maltiness lacks distinguishing characteristics. Seems more made by recipe than inspiration.

Serving type: bottle

11-20-2009 03:09:09 | More by farrago

ggroller

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -20.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Amber colored liquid in the glass.

One finger head. Some sticking/ lacing on the sides of the glass.

Citrus hops in the nose.

Tea on the first sip. That's right, tea. What the hell?

Bitter hops, then more tea.

This beer is ok. Just ok. I like (need) wow!

Serving type: bottle

10-27-2005 22:58:41 | More by ggroller

Hoppington

New York

3/5  rDev -20.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Blue Point seems to refined the art of making smooth drinking brews, but smoothness is not something I am looking for in a hoppy beer. A great looking label, but taste wise, I am ambivalent about this beer. I think the best choice for this beer is from the cask as the temperature brings out the flavor more. But out of the bottle I was underwhelmed. Not bad but not great. The hops seem muted by the malt and other ingredients. This makes for a smooth, somewhat watery mouthfeel.

I think beers should live up to their names more. When I think Hoptical Illusion, I think a beer so complex and hoppy that it distorts reality. Didn't happen for me.

Serving type: cask

01-03-2008 16:20:38 | More by Hoppington

bags6lax

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev -20.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Tried it over the weekend...first bottle was a little cooler then room temp, poured hazy orange, very little head...smelled initially grassy/earthy with some citrous notes. Pleasent, but nothing extraordinary, tasted exactly how it smelled, and was under hopped IMO...so it was a bit of let down.

I chilled the second bottle, which ended up rounding out all the flavors a bit, and in the end made it a very drinkable brew, but not anything I'd go out of the way to purchase.

Serving type: bottle

01-21-2008 15:02:12 | More by bags6lax