tasting notes

and for saturday night's pre-party tipple, i chose deschutes brewery's hop trip

part of the bond series of hop-forward beers, its the october-december offering
and since i love the hop in the dark so much
i figured i'd better try the other two offerings as well!

deschutes has this to say about the bond series:  Inspired by the original Deschutes Brewery & Public House on Bond Street in downtown Bend, the Bond Street Series highlights a handful of our hop-forward beers that began at "the pub." These local favorites, both old & new, truly display Deschutes Brewery's diversity and creativity.  Available in 22 oz bottles and draft only.


hop in the dark is a black ipa offered may to september:
Can an IPA be black?  Semantics aside, this noir version adds deep roasted malts to alter the hue and slightly smooth the edges.  What emerges is something deeper, less orthodox, and all its own.

“We’ve brewed 22 batches of this beer at both our Bend and Portland pubs, experimenting on our customers as we perfected the recipe,” said Brewmaster Larry Sidor. “This beer has subtle coffee undertones born from a blend of oats with dark, Munich and crystal malts. Classic IPA flavors and aromas are due to courageous additions of Cascade, Citra and Centennial hops.”

Take the plunge – a hop, if you will – into this new Cascadian Dark Ale. Many may never even try to swim for shore.

hop henge ipa is offered january to april:

First brewed in 2006, Deschutes Brewery’s Hop Henge Experimental IPA reappears this year with more extreme hop flavors than ever before. The new formulation is the epitome of the brewery’s experimental style and commitment to innovation, while gratifying their unquenchable thirst for beautifully balanced hoppy beers. The newest incarnation of Hop Henge uses several new hop processes and techniques to create a truly unique and unexpected beer.

Several pounds of Centennial & Cascade  hops are in each barrel with a heavy dry-hop presence to top it off. A blend of crystal, pale and carastan malts creates an overall biscuity characteristic that is dense and muscular, building the alcohol base to support the monstrous hop profile.

When one of our brewers came up with the name Hop Henge, he also came up with the idea of actually recreating Stonehenge, only with hop bales. We were up for the challenge and even though the weather did not want to cooperate, we pulled it off and threw a party afterwards. Click here to view the photos.

hop trip:
This Fresh Hop Pale Ale is all about celebrating the hop harvest in the fall. Fresh picked hops have to be added to the brew immediately and in abundance. Roughly 680 pounds of Crystal hops from Doug Weathers' farm outside Salem, Oregon will be added to each 120 barrel batch in addition to some dry kilned whole flower hops. That adds up to approximately 5.7 pounds of hops per barrel brewed. Another deliciously interesting beer in our Bond Street Series. 

In 2006 we thought it would be fun to document the trip so Tim Cash from FARfromEARTH films hopped on board with his camera in hand.  Click here to watch the video.

okay, as i've said, i love the hop in the dark
it is one of those beers that make me wish i could drink beer every day
(work with me here, i know in theory that wish is possible...)
but.... i'm not loving the hop trip in the same way
yes, it is hoppy
and that's a very good thing
but... i'm not loving it like i want to love it
and its not just an expectation thing that makes me say that
i'm quite able to love a beer that did not meet my exact expectations going in
its that its so fully hopped at every step along the way
and i love hops
so why am i not falling all over myself extolling its virtues?
i dunno
fickle i guess


that said, i am happily pouring myself my second glass
and looking forward to taking my six pack of inversion to the party!