Stevens Point Whole Hog Six-Hop IPA

Quite frankly I’d never heard of this beer until 3 days ago. 3 Days ago I got a package in the mail from my beer trading buddy Jason.  It wasn’t part of the trade, but he wanted me to give it a try and get my impression on the beer.  So fast forward 3 days, I’m about to crack this brew open with my Hop head Hat on and see if 6 hops are really better than 5…

Here is how Stevens Point Brewery describes their beer:

It just wasn’t enough to use a blend of 5 varieties of hops in our India Pale Ale.We needed more. We needed to go wholehog! So, we added a sixth hop and created a more pronounced hop nose and massive hop flavor for our American twist to this legendary style. Whole Hog 6-Hop I.P.A. has a deep floral hop aroma combined with notes of baked citrus. Clean maltiness supports a dominate complex of six varieties of hops and creates a solid mouthfeel. This gives way to a lingering finish of supple hop bitterness, tangy citrus fruit and robust malt. This is a delicious adventure and brilliant tribute to the historical I.P.A.Perfectly paired with grilled steak or chicken.

Bottle: 12oz twist off cap

ABV: 8.5%

IBU: 87

Appearance:

A very nice looking beer; a good copper orange color with a small cream color head.  The half inch head did dissipate very quickly.  There was a good amount of bubbles coming from the bottom of my glass, which to me, indicates it should be a nicely carbonated beer.

Aroma:

Ummm, can someone give me back my aroma?  This is a double IPA with Cascade hops I was expecting a bit more aroma.  The other 5 hops used, Cluster, Pearle, Williamette, Sterling, and Tettnanger are more common in English IPA’s then American and tend not to have the big nose in the aroma.  Which is fine, until you proclaim a “Deep floral hop aroma”.  With this beer I get a boozy earthy caramel pine aroma with a bit of lemon grass, but still nothing that was big or huge.  I’m holding out hope for the taste.  As we have all seen before, great flavor is not always accompanied by great kick you in the face aroma.

Taste:

Unfortunately I’m not bowled over by the flavor either. It has a big alcohol hit right up front, missing the malty creaminess I prefer in IPA’s.  There is a lot of bitterness in the middle palette that fades rather quickly. With the strong alcohol presence throughout the beer and a dandelion leaf flavor in the middle, just doesn’t work for my palette.  For me, the cluster and tettnager hops really come through strong at the end of this beer leaving a spicy bitter finish.

Glassware: Tulip

Calories: 259 per 12 oz

Overall Impression:

I wasn’t that impressed with this “American twist to a legendary style”.  My preferrence is to a more balanced beer with more malt and creaminess and less spicy hop bitterness on the back end for English IPA’s.  For American IPA’s I prefer more of a aroma traditional piney, resinous, citrus aroma with a malty front, citrus middle, and bitter back. This beer didn’t fall into either for me.  As a closing note as the beer approached room temp, i found to enjoy it a bit more, but not enough to alter my notes above.