Southern Tier Hoppe

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

available on tap at souther tier brew co. light golden color, white head. lots of hops and malt, grapefruit, and a strong alcohol taste. starts crisp and sharp, then mellows a bit with a somewhat unpleasant soapy-bitter finish.

22 0z bottle via trade (thanks bmartin08!). THis is one that i received via a request at the start of summer 2007 for a bunch of hoppy beers. Well, summer officially ended yesterday so i better drink this before it turns to a barleywine....i love hop-bombs, not barleywinesl! Is a semi clear amber with an average beige head that leaves LOTS of spidery lace on the mug, nose is floral and herbal. Taste is grassy, herbal, vegetal, and some pine in the finish. This is definitely all about the hops, and seems wet-hopped. It also seems like a combo between a west coast citrus bomb and an east coast Grassy/floral bomb...not that there’s anything wrong with that ;) Body is medium, but a bit on the light side considering this is an IIPA at 10% abv. It does have a semi-dry clean finish with moderate/high carbonation. .

Bottle from nflmvp. Bright amber with thin, but fluffy head. Light hop aroma. Balanced up front with heavy malt and hops, but the finish is quite bitter. A little grapefruit, a bit of alcohol....Thick and syrupy. Solid.

I love when brewers put their ingredients on the bottle. Pours a hazy golden with fluffy white head. Floral hop aroma. Alcohol up front with a grapefruit finish. As you get used to the alcohol flavor, some light toasty malt comes throgh upfront, but the backend is still dominated by the grapefuruit hops, almost disgustingly so.

Bottle from Aster Liquors. Pours a hazy golden orange with a dissipating frothy milk-colored head. Aroma floral hops and honey. Medium bodied with a rich malty texture that stops short of being sticky. Initial flavor of pale malts and honey, that transitions to sharp hoppy and citrusy middle. Semi dry bitter finish with lots of lingering grapefruit rind. Fairly solid. If it wasn’t for the ABV, this is more of an Imperial IPA. Do not drink this cold out of the fridge unless you like that minty toothpaste characteristic from the hops. This is perfect around 50 degrees.

I rather like the idea of this beer. It seems to be just a big old hop monster with malt as an afterthought. While I actually like my beer more on the malty side, if you wish to show off hops, this is probably the way to do it. The aroma was really huge, as a big hop beer should be, and with all of the elements I would want. Very nice. But I must add that if Avery IPA, with half the alcohol and at half the price, does this just as well, where is the justification for this beer?

Drunk 5/26.Yellow/gold colorwith big head. Floral lemony hop aroma. The taste was the same but thick,syrupy, and sticky. Citrus hop finish.

A high density, crystalline ale starts with a small, sandy head that quickly turns to a ring. Slightly sparkling; solid lacing. Strong pale malt dominates the aroma. It smells a bit boozy and woodsy and citrusy-- perhaps lemon oil A medium bodied ale, it’s reasonably soft and leaves the tounge in a dry fashion. It tastes like pale malt extract and alcohol. Heavily. It flirts with being sweet, but the hot, peppery burn prevents it from going to far. It’s appropriately and adequately hopped. The bitterness certainly has an element that wants to be rubbed into dark wood. This seems like a beer that should be aged a little bit, but perhaps the idea of this beer is to present a very simplistic approach to American Strong Ale, like an Upstate New York take on Arrogant Bastard.