Geeks bearing gifts

There's a beershop in Gent called "Hopduvel", which is quite famous for being one of the only stores in Belgium sort-of-committed to importing brews from abroad. We Belgians are a bit of chauvinistic bunch, and still believe (in spite of evidence to the contrary) that Belgian beer is the only beer worth drinking, and that hence there is no point in establishing any import routes of note. Ironically enough, some of our best brews are exported without ever becoming available to the natives, while some of our most unspectacular beers are subjected to an absurd status of "classic benchmark for beery goodness".

But I digress: I got a call from fellow Beer Geek Frank while he was at the Hopduvel, saying he had a surprise for me. So when he came over last night, I had some glasses set up and my anticipation roaring.

Yay beer!

Turns out Frank got hold of a couple of nice USA brews, from two breweries I've been hearing a lot about. Since reading beer ain't half as much fun as actually drinking it, we quickly applied ourself and set to the task ahead. For science, of course.

Here's Frank wearing his "for science" face.

Brew#1 is Southern Tier's Gemini, a blend of two of their hop-bomb beers, being the Hoppe and the Unearthly. Impressively detailed label, stating not only the full ingredients list such as which malts and hops were used, but also (and this is a first for me), by which method the hops were applied. A staggering number American hops were used in this brew, which makes sense as it's really two brews in one beer. Text-book golden orange pour, cloudy verging on opaque, with a subdued creamy white head. Massively hoppy on the nose, with nectarines, grapes and a hint of grapefruit swirling over a solid malty base, with just a hint of light fudgey caramel. Flavours were a bit lacking in direction, with the sweetness of the malt being just on the wrong side of cloying, but still not entirely unbalanced. Compared to other brews of similar ilk (recall the Hopwired, but also think back on Brew Dog's Hard Core Ipa), I think this beer suffers a bit from Mozartitis: too many notes. One or two hops less, and a slightly less present sweetness of the malt, and this would have been a superb beer. As it is now, it's spectacular, but lacking direction and focus.

Here's Frank wearing is "moar science, I sez"  face.

Brew#2 is Hoppin'Frog's Hop Heathen, an IBA. BIPA. ABA? Aw hell, an Imperial Black Ale, according to the label, whatever that's supposed to mean.

This is what means though: two beers in one again.

Like the blended Geminia, the Hop Heathen really is two beers in one, as it's both IPA and a roasted black ale.
Unlike the blended Gemini, the Hop heathen is two beers in one because it actually has two faces. The nose is undeniably IPA based, with (again) massive hoppiness as one would expect from such beers. This one's more resiny and not as fruity as the Gemini, but still: buckets of hops on the nose. One neat little twist which got my interest piqued: roast. The black specialty malts used to achieve the near-perfectly black hue also deliver a notable (yet not omnipresent) roasty fragrance, hinting delicately but presently of coffee. Together, the hops and the roast make for an intriguing nose.
In the mouthn the beer takes on more of porter-aroma, focusing less on the hops and more on the delicate mocca-flavours of the malt. Hops are still present, but it's impressive how the beer's focus is flipped upside down in the mouth when compared to the nose: from hoppy-with-roast to roasty-with-hops. This is my first black IPA (because that's what is, after all), and I think I'm getting an idea of what the style implies, and where it's coming from.

Compared to the Gemini, I was impressed by the Hop Heathen's crafty display of focus, and the mischievous way in which it plays with its flavour accents. I'm not saying the Gemini wasn't good, but the Heathen was impressive.

My thanks and appreciation to Frank for scoring these beers, and for sharing them with yours truly.
We also sampled my current batch of developing homebrew. Half of which got run over by the cat, and the other half I didn't have the heart to force Frank to finish. My pleas that "it will smoothen up as it matures" fell on deaf ears, and the Heathen was beckoning.



Beer: Gemini
Brewery: Southern Tier
Style: Double IPA, 50/50 blend of two IPAs (Hoppe + Unearthly)
ABV: 10.5%
EBU: 78
EBC: -
Served: 660ml bottle



Beer: Hop Heathen
Brewery: Hoppin' Frog
Style: Imperial Black Ale / Black IPA
ABV: 10.5%
EBU: 70
EBC: -
Served: 660ml bottle





Greetz

Jo