Name: Lagunitas Brewing Co. Hop Stoopid Ale
Origin: USA
Style: Ale (102 IBU Ale – 8% ABV)
Appearance: Very attractive colour for this highly hopped ale. Gorgeous, clear red-brown in colour (I would compare it to the colour of cedar). The head produced is a medium sized, soft and foamy head with a decent life span.
Taste: This beer is intensely hoppy and floral in aroma as it should be. Very strong notes of bitter citrus and flowers are produced from the hops. Surprisingly enough the high amount of hops used do not completely overshadow the other flavour in this beer. Almost as if drinking from another bottle, a completely separate sweet, honey-like taste comes to life. The bitter hop flavours and honey-like malt flavours almost feel separate on the tongue.
Mouth Feel: A foamy, filling beer, the aftertaste is slightly bitter and almost too sweet. Strangely enough these flavors are not well blended. The high ABV is not apparent in this ale.
Final Thoughts (3.0 out of 5): It was almost like my tongue was being assaulted by bitter and sweet at the same time, both battling for ultimate control of my taste buds. I would swear that Lagunita’s was attempting to balance out the high IBU by loading it with unfermented honey. It is highly possible they used the addition (though I cannot find it mentioned anywhere, so I could be very wrong) of lactose sugar (unfermentable by yeast) to produce the strong sweet flavours, which I had thought would be nearly indistinguishable in such a massive IBU beer.