Monday, December 28, 2015

Alaskan Hopothermia Review



Name: Alaskan Hopothermia
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.5%
IBUs: 70

Now that Christmas is finally over with, it's time to get back to reviewing some beers. Since the first major snowfall is supposedly going to be hitting us tonight, I thought now would be a good time to review Alaskan Brewing's Hopothermia.

Hopothermia is Alaskan's first widely available Imperial IPA. It's beginnings trace back to that of being a draft-only release when it came out roughly around three years ago. In fact, I recall having it on tap when it was first released at a bar in Minneapolis (The Republic in Uptown I want to say....?) I'm guessing it proved to be popular enough to warrant a bottle release.

Appearance -  Fairly clear dark amber color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head starts out foamy but retains a mostly thin appearance with a moderate amount of lacing..

Aroma - Very dank piney hops on the front of the nose with a strong caramel malt backbone, along with some mild grapefruit rinds.

Taste - Piney & citrus hops with some mild dankness. Further in you start to pick up on some grapefruit sweetness and caramel maltiness, while on the back end of the palate is just more bitter hops. Aftertaste is some more bitter piney hoppiness with some light toffee notes.

If you like your IPAs with a bit of dankness to it, this beer is for you. It's reasonably priced and there's nothing that I would consider to be wrong with it. Maybe it's just me but I remember this being more.......exciting when I first had it, though it could be my change in palate or a change in recipe. Either way, it's still good and I could see myself drinking this again.

Alaskan Hopothermia - 8/10

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