Magic Hat Brewing Company has continued to produce some new beers. I recently saw their spring seasonal at the the six pack store, and I was in the mood for something hoppy, so I grabbed it. The bottle looks pretty funky, like something out of the 60′s. Then again, most of Magic Hat’s stuff looks a little on the funky side.
The beer comes in at 5.8% ABV and 45 IBUs. I opened the beer and eagerly awaited the inside the cap message. My first beer said, “break the cage of the digital age.” I always enjoy a beer that has a message inside the cap. Particularly when it is something interesting and not just a list of their awards (Sam Adams). Hi.P.A pours a cloudy orange color and has a great aroma. It smells almost like raw hops are in it. I don’t know if I got a fresh bottle or not, but it really suprised me. It had a nice head that lasted through the whole beer and had great lacing.
On the first taste I caught some nice sweet malt with some hops. The hop aroma is much stronger then the actual hop flavor, which could be a good or bad thing depending on what you are looking for. There is a nice orangy zesty flavor in there. Overal nice and citerousy with good malt to back it up.
I think this is a pretty typical IPA. The hops are there but not overpowering and the smells are great. I might of actually enjoyed the smell more then the actual beer. Not that it is a bad beer, but it isn’t that different from any good IPA. If I saw this again at the six pack store I would probably look around a bit to see if there was anything else I didn’t try yet. I was good, but not great, but if you like IPA this would be right up your alley. Continue reading
I’ve had most of these beers before but there is something about drinking at 11 o’clock in the morning in a brewery with the smell of yeast around you that makes everything better. Later in the day I also had a pint of Moon Glow, which was wonderful.
This blog generally only talks about good beer and beer related things, but I just saw something that irritated me to no end. It was a TV commercial about Miller Light. I’m used to that type of thing, generally it says tastes great, less filling and flashes some hottie up there. But no, this commercial went after the craft brew industry a bit. It talked about how Miller Light is hopped three different times. I wasn’t even sure there were hops in that swill. To quote a 
Last summer I was in Hawaii and had the joy of the Fire Rock Pale Ale. I haven’t had it since August, but I ran across a six pack here in Texas and I knew I had to try it again. Let me start off with what the brewery has to say about its beer:
I like that they refer to it as a Hawaiian-style pale ale because I believe it is the only pale ale made on the islands. I remember reading the following somewhere, but I am unable to find it now, so bear with me. The brewery is located on the Big Island and there beer there is only served on the islands. The company is environmentally conscience and has another brewery on the mainland that produces beer for the rest of the beer for the states. If you know if this is false or true please let me know.
Anyway, Fire Rock Pale Ale has a wonder aroma to it. It is mostly hops on the nose and a very citrusy hops at that. It pours a copper to light orange and has a bit of haze to it. The head on the beer is great, it diminishes somewhat, but lasted through my entire drink.
Lancaster Brewing Company’s Hop Hog is one of the four beers the offer year round. You can read the description that LBC gives their hoppy brew on the right.
