December 1 - Deschutes Hop Trip IPA

December 1 - Deschutes Hop Trip IPA, a photo by Cody La Bière on Flickr.

Another December.. another beer advent calendar! Last year I made my own beer advent calendar with help from a few friends. This time around, I got all the help from Señor Jonny over at BeerImage.com, some beers in the series are apparently beers HE'S never even tried before.. sweeeet!

For the first day of December, I got a bottle of Hop Trip IPA by Deschutes Brewery out of Portland.

Appearance: Pours a caramel-honey brown, clear, quite bright and inviting. nice lacing of beige head, decent amount of carbonation.

Aroma: The aroma from Hop Trip reminds you why the Pacific Northwest is king when it comes towards IPAs.. the hops. A very fresh and aromatic hoppiness in there. Some notes of pine, grapefruit and a bit of spiciness and a squirt of citrus fruits in there as well. This should be made into a men's cologne, it's that inviting.

Taste: A very inviting and relaxing IPA for a long week of work. Not as bitter or sweet as the aroma, it's a nice mellow IPA with a bit of a light pine backing for aftertaste, light lemon citrus, the aroma makes up for it. The sniff of the aromas right before the sip really makes it special.

Overall Thoughts: Stellar IPA with a great pine & grapefruity aroma to it, not as strong on the flavour as I expected, but really helps calm the nerves after a long week of work. 5.4% ABV.

Each year around Labor Day, Deschutes brewers high-tail it over the pass to Doug Weather’s hop fields near Salem for the harvest. After bagging these aromatic jewels, we hustle back and toss them into the brew kettles within four hours of picking. Our reward: a pale ale with a uniquely bright citrus punch and fall spice. It’s something only Deschutes would take past the idle-talk stage. Brewed with Salmon Safe Hops

www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/hop-trip

To follow my 2013 Beer Advent Calendar series.. CLICK HERE!