The Beer Chaser

I ran into a rep for the local craft brew distributor here in Tampa, FL a month or two ago while I was picking up a 6 pack. We got to talking beer (go figure) and he recommended Bell’s Hopslam. It sounded really,really tasty, but I wasn’t ready to cough up 15 bones for a sixer. Well, I finally broke down and pulled the trigger on the purchase a couple of weeks later.

The back of this imperial/double IPA label reads: “A biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?” I couldn’t wait to take this one for a ride.

This really was a beautiful beer to see when I poured it into my glass. Most noticeable was the large, frothy, white head that lasted most of the drink. The clear body  was yellowy, orange in color with very light malt taste. This may have a little to do with the fact that honey is used in the brew process of this nectar of the gods.

The name says it all with a heavy hop aroma and taste (70 IBU)  with hints of pine and citrus. There was an obvious alcoholic texture to this chewy brew of greatness that is 10% ABV. Soft carbonation and long, heavy finish ended with sweet caramel.

The beer rep was telling me that the release of this beer was one of the most anticipated this year. I had no idea. There is a huge following for this beer and all you have to do is check out sites like Rate Beer or Beer Advocate. It is ranked VERY highly across the board for it’s qualities.

I’ve seen the Bell’s brands around, but this is the first of their brews that I have ever tried. They say first impressions are everything, and I’ll definitely be looking for opportunities to try the rest of the Bell’s line after enjoying this limited release beer. I highly recommend checking this one out. It is not your ordinary brew and it’s only available for a couple of months out of the year. Salud!

Tags: Bell's Brewing, DIPA

This entry was posted by Mike on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.