Monday, November 11, 2013

Hop Session Ale


Hop Session Ale brewed by White Birch Brewing is a beer I selected to take with us for our annual fall camping trip. Trees on the bottle - camping in the woods.  It seemed a good pairing. Right?

Partial photo goes to hubby who dragged a big ol' white birch branch out of the woods so I could use it as a prop for my pix. It had a dual purpose as I chucked it into the fire when I was done with it.

To be fair to the brewery, this beer was meant to be consumed fresh. Well, it was fresh in May of 2012. It got buried in my expansive beer stash, but there was no way I was going to dump it without at least trying it. Waste not, want not, and all that stuff. I'm glad I didn't.

The good news is that it wasn't bad. Not even a little bad.  Not even a year and a half or so after it's optimal drink by date. Probably not as hoppy and bold as intended but still pretty darned tasty.

Hop Session Ale (5% ABV) pours a cloudy amber with a floofy root-beer like off-white head.

The aroma was yeasty with caramel malts and brisk hops.

The taste was sweetly malty and biscuit. The bitter hops kicked and punched the sweetness in the gut. The hop profile was very West Coast with pine, grapefruit and spice notes.  The finish was bitter and dry. Yum.

The mouth feel was very fuzzy with loads of carbonation.

Overall: very good

Don't tell me to drink your damned beer fresh! I'll drink it when I want and like it!! ☜(゚ヮ゚☜)    



Note: I went on a quest for fresher batches - read about what I discovered here.

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