Short's Huma-Lupa-Licious IPA - Short's Brewing Company

portia99

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a Portsmouth goblet. Date on bottle says it was packaged in March 09.

A - Pours a hazy, bright orange color. A creamy head forms with an off-white, slightly yellowish color, about 1 finger high. Head dissipates quickly and leaves a decent collar of bubbles around the edge of the glass.

S - Smells of citrusy and spicy hops and bready malt. Well balanced, expected more hop aroma here. Beer is about 4 mths old, not too old but maybe like some others (Nugget Nectar, for one) the hops leave this one quickly.

T - Good full bitterness with lightly malty flavors underneath - bready, biscuity flavors. Bitterness lingers - some fruitiness appears as the beer warms and hops take on a sharper bite.

M - Beer has adequate body, slightly thin but appropriate for the style. Bitterness lingers into the aftertaste. Carbonation is on the higher side and gives a good prickly feeling in the mouth.

D - This is quite a good IPA with good flavor and medium body. Alcohol is present but not really overpowering. Feels pretty smooth going down...definitely could have another one or two of these.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2009 00:43:55 | More by portia99

somethingcreative

Indiana

3.5/5  rDev -14.2%

05-17-2013 01:02:22 | More by somethingcreative

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev -8.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

We pour a brew of glowing golden orange, holding an easily reproducible one finger head of fat, off white bubbles. This shows lighter retention, leaving spots and stripes of lacing around the glass as it goes. A chill haze is appreciated, without sediment. Carbonation appears to be light to medium. The aroma gives surprising depth of malts, with sticky pales, sweet toffees, cardboard, and a dry pancake batter quality. To match are milky lactics, herbal mint leafiness, green onions, mustard seed, light medicinals, and honeysuckle. Hops take the form of florals, perfumes, and dirty earthen grittiness. Our first impression is that the taste is quite dark, with the hops coming across as freshly raw, as if they were sitting in a bin under the table at a farmer’s market. As we sip, the most bitter, earthy, raw, resiny, and soapy hops crash the palate. Coming to blend are pale and heartily metallic malts, juicy baker’s yeast, dried apricot fruitiness, green bananas, bittered citric rind, and white toast breadiness. The middle comes to a peak with enhanced aluminum metallics, black pepper booziness, dandelion weediness, mineral, and tannic lemon tea, while the hops build up their soapiness, bolstering the bite of the swallow. Washing through the finish gives pencil graphite, cheaper and chalky pale malts, deep brassiness, soapy and earthen hop bitterness, chokecherries, clover honey, and the sweetness of lemon flesh. The aftertaste breathes of light charcoal smokiness, resiny hop stems, soapy and herbal grit, mild chemical phenols, ethanol, lemon peel, salty toffee malts, bittered walnut, and vegetal minerals. The body is medium, and the carbonation is on the light side. Each sip gives nice slurp, smack, cream, froth, and strong finishing pop. The mouth is left wet and slick, with eventual pucker and green astringency down the tongue and hard palate. The abv is appropriate, and the beer drinks decently.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was its aroma. What really stands out about this was its spicy, malty backbone that holds up nicely to the equally as dirty and gritty hop side. The hops are actually a bit light aromatically, but do make much more of an appearance through the flavoring. To match there are much more bitter, fruity, and chemically inclusions that both balance and obscure the general base. This makes for an interesting tasting that keeps the tongue guessing. The feel is a bit watered through, and this takes away from the experience, but this guy is definitely a regional competitor for the style.

Serving type: bottle

05-17-2013 00:16:43 | More by TheBrewo

Roman5150

Michigan

4.26/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

bottle into pint glass

appearance: cloudy darker orange, 1 finger white head

smell: intense hops, very earthy weedy smell, highly floral

taste: very bitter, one of the more bitter beer i've ever had. It's a long lasting bitterness, very hoppy and earthiness to it, citrus and grapefruit come through in the end, any malt is easily masked by the bitterness. Lots of floral notes, tastes like a hint of honey is lost somewhere in there as well. If you love bitter high IBU beers like I do, you will love this. Alcohol not noticeable.

mouthfeel: pretty high carbonation, slightly thin feel

overall: A very bitter hop bomb, this offering from Short's packs a punch. To compare it to a more popular beer, it's more bitter than a Ruination, but with less pronounced citrus/grapefruit flavors. A great hoppy beer, one of the most bitter i've ever had, will buy again. Whatever you drink after this, you will not taste.

Serving type: bottle

05-16-2013 01:40:36 | More by Roman5150

GinsuDave

Michigan

4/5  rDev -2%

05-15-2013 10:25:50 | More by GinsuDave

TastyIsBeer

Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -8.1%

05-14-2013 23:40:57 | More by TastyIsBeer

kirbmeist

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +10.3%

05-13-2013 19:08:35 | More by kirbmeist

UHCougar12

Texas

4.5/5  rDev +10.3%

05-12-2013 14:29:20 | More by UHCougar12

HardyA

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev -8.1%

05-11-2013 00:33:16 | More by HardyA

Slay40

Michigan

4.75/5  rDev +16.4%

05-10-2013 18:58:58 | More by Slay40

AnnArborJoe

Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +10.3%

05-10-2013 16:48:52 | More by AnnArborJoe

cp45

New Jersey

4/5  rDev -2%

05-10-2013 02:53:17 | More by cp45

klingenator

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +4.2%

05-08-2013 20:35:55 | More by klingenator

brudz2134

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +4.2%

05-04-2013 04:53:29 | More by brudz2134

Cdunk11

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -2%

05-03-2013 03:49:21 | More by Cdunk11

beerhawk41

Illinois

2/5  rDev -51%

04-29-2013 00:54:06 | More by beerhawk41

JamesMN

Minnesota

3.34/5  rDev -18.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Barely legible date on the bottle of 1/17/13. Here's hoping that's 'bottled on' and not 'enjoy by.'

Appearance: A nice bright orange and completely opaque. Poured a two finger marshmallowy off-white head that has dissipated some leaving nice lacing.

Aroma: Sweet sugary barley notes as well has a somewhat dank hop aroma. Like a mixture of pine and earth with citrus/grass buried underneath it all.

Taste: Starts with a building bitterness that has moments of high intensity (120+ IBUs is actually believable here). Mostly a grassy hop flavor that leaves something to be desired. The sweetness from the aroma is nowhere to be found in the taste which really lacks the balance to rein those hops in. That being said, it's really not bad. At 6.9% ABV there is definitely some malt involved in the making of this brew but it is very hard to detect under the massive dose of bitterness. Slightly dry finish and a quinine-like bitterness in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Just under medium in body with average carbonation and good drinkability despite the hop coma it inflicts on your palate.

Final Thoughts: As a hop head I'm always looking for the most bitter and flavorful IPAs out there. Huma Lupa Licious delivers on the bitterness without a doubt. I wish I had a fresh bottle to find out if it has more hop flavor to give than the grassy character I experienced. Would I drink it again? I'm not seeking it out.

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2013 22:10:44 | More by JamesMN

spycow

Illinois

4/5  rDev -2%

04-28-2013 21:58:38 | More by spycow

Eddyfunt

Michigan

4/5  rDev -2%

04-27-2013 19:26:59 | More by Eddyfunt

breakingbland

Michigan

3.5/5  rDev -14.2%

04-26-2013 17:05:39 | More by breakingbland

MDDMD

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -2%

04-26-2013 04:42:42 | More by MDDMD

CanisMajor

Indiana

4/5  rDev -2%

04-24-2013 22:43:37 | More by CanisMajor

Ncpogs

Illinois

4/5  rDev -2%

04-23-2013 20:17:14 | More by Ncpogs

runfoodrun

Minnesota

4/5  rDev -2%

04-23-2013 03:02:31 | More by runfoodrun

dcbeers

District of Columbia

4.25/5  rDev +4.2%

04-21-2013 21:57:49 | More by dcbeers