Deschutes Hop Trip

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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Enjoyed both in the bottle and on tap at City Beer in SF. Aroma is nicely hoppy with an excellent bouquet of grapefruits and caramel malts. Appearance is a dark copper color with a nice head. Mouthfeel was creamy and gentle. Flavor was hoppy without the hop bitterness, which was less pronounced with the sweet malts. A very enjoyable APA which with a little push could even be in the IPA territory. Very nice!

Tap, O’Brien’s. Pours a medium rubyish color. Strong caramelized aroma. Flavor is earthy with aot of butterscotch. Only a little bitterness.

Bottle. Pours clear amber with a spare fizzy light brown head that is mostly diminishing and spare lacing. Aroma is average malt (caramel, cereal, toasted), heavy hops (flowers, spruce, orange), average yeast (cheese) and notes of pineapple and honey. Average flavor duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness, mineral notes. Medium bodied, alcoholic textrure, lively carbonation and astringent.

I very much enjoyed this, probably because it really hit the spot. Fresh hopy, citrus, pine, and caramel aroma. Not bitter, but very smooth and refreshing. Lots of fresh hop flavor, caramel, orange, pine and citrus.

UPDATED: MAR 22, 2008 22 oz bottle via Roth’s. Pours a clear amber with a large beige head. Wonderful floral aroma with some citrus & pine notes. Nice fresh hoppy taste, not bitter in the least. Starts out with some sweet caramel, orange, and then the piney hops kick in. Thin bodied, refreshing, very easy to drink. 11/20/07 rerate-orig rating was 9/3/8/3/17******************* 22 oz bottle via Roth’s. Pours a hazy amber with a large beige head. Nose is divine with lots of floral and citrus hoppiness. The taste starts with some subtle sweetness, almost honeyish, then some very nice hops kick in with notes of lemon, orange mandarin, peach, apricot and subtle grapefruit. This sits on a malt backbone that is there, but takes second stage to all these flavorful (not bitter) hops. The only thing that could be better is a bit of a stronger finish as the hops do not stick around long enough into the aftertaste. Oh well, makes you want another taste that much quicker. The body is light/medium and the carbonation is perfect. I have REALLY enjoyed the Pac-NW wet-hopped beers i have sampled thus far, there is just something about wet-hopping that my palette really digs!

On draft at the O’Briens Wet Hop Festival. Clear medium amber color with a smallish light beige head. Grainy malt aroma,ll sweet with hints of caramel and floral hops, but lacking the kind of punch I’d expect from a wet hop ale. Nice pale ale with toasty and pale malts, mild floral hop bitterness, again not much evidence of the fresh hops - though this one features the Crystal hops which apparently have a milder character. Light to medium body, smooth and gently carbontion.

Hazy orange. Aroma is grapefruit, citrusy fruits, caramel. Hard to describe the wet hop flavor/aroma in words, but it’s there. I’m not sure whether I prefer it, but it certainly made for an interesting experience. The last time I had a wet hop beer it was about 8 months old... so having it fresh made a big difference. Certainly something different than most APAs around here.

22 oz bottle. Pours a clear copper-orange with a forthy off white head that quickly recedes to a film that laces the glass.

The aroma is spicy, piney, resinous hops, some melon and some bready malt.

The flavor is peppery, melony hops with some residual sweetness. The mouthfeel is thin and very watery.

Overall, I was rather disappointed with this. Way too watery and not a lot of good hop flavor, just some peppery bitterness.

Coppery orange. Sticky white froth deposits abundant lace. Vibrant flowery hop aroma consists of anise and complementary notes of toasted biscuits. Clean airy esters stimulate the olfactory senses as well. Soft and fluffy natural carbonation condenses on the palate. Early stage of the flavor is slightly grainy but noticeably juicy with hops. Firm kiss of toasted biscuits and nutty malts enhances the hops. Despite the slightly earthy yeast character, which fills the center with flavor and depth while also bolstering the body, the level of attenuation is perfect. Light acidity prolongs the well-structured toasted malts, which last well into the balanced finish. Closes understatedly bitter with a gentle drop of tropical-fruit acidity which underscores the lingering nutty and strawlike malts. The hop aroma is relatively subdued, but there’s lots to love about this: It’s cleanly aromatic, has an understated but effective hop bitterness, is quite estery, and is very refined. Of course being bottle conditioned and fairly priced is also a plus. An ideal session brew.

22 ounce bottle purchased at Nugget on Covell Blvd in Davis, CA. Sampled after Reaper Deathly Pale Ale. Nose is rather estery with some banana notes along with some ethanol presence as well. SLight sweet nose, but lots of booze. Aroma is somewhat disappointing from this brewer. Transparent oragey-copper body with a small off-white head and below-average lacing. Tingly, carbonated start, which turns rather grainy with lots of malts present. Lots of cereal and biscuity, and grainy malts in the middle. Light caramel. Finishes less hoppy than the Reaper Deathly Pale. FInishing hops are a bit floral, sweet, and citric. This is quite drinkable and rather flavorful and balanced. Too bad the aroma is mediocre.