Terrapin Hopsecutioner

Why I tried this: DID YOU SEE THE NAME OF THIS BEER?!??!!?!? By now you should know I love IPAs!  That being said how could I pass on a beer called Hopsecutioner.  Especially a "Hopsecutioner" that has some hops laid out on the guillotine.  Pretty much enough said, no point going into any more detail.

Smell: citrus scent with some floral in the scent.  Slight malt in the scent that seems to round it out and make the hops less pungent.

Taste: Well not quite as hoppy in flavor as I would expect a beer called "hopsecutioner" to be.  The hops are there and noticeable but not nearly as strong as I had been hoping for or planning.   A bit more of syrupy malty flavor then I would of expected.  I didnt detect much of the citrus scent at all in the flavor.  The caramel malt flavor blending with the hops rounded this beer out a bit more then I would of wanted.  Dont get me wrong I liked this beer, in fact I have a 6 pack of it in my fridge right now, but I would definitely consider it a much more mild IPA.

Overall I would give this beer a rating of a quarter glass left.  It is a beer I will enjoy time to time when I go out.  This beer had a very good flavor and is enjoyable however I wish the hops were a bit stronger in the flavor and make themselves more pronounced.  I would suggest this beer to someone that is interested in trying IPAs before I brought out the big guns of delicious hop tea IPAs.



--Jon

Bell's Two Hearted IPA

Why I tried this: I was on an IPA binge this certain day, after coming off a Magic Hat #9. I'm generally not a huge IPA guy, as they always seem one dimensional and overly hoppy, but Magic Hat showed me otherwise. This baby was on draft and generally Bells makes a fairly quality product, so with one IPA down the gullet I braved this little number.

Smell: It has a nice herbal hop smell to it, balanced with a fruity scent that had some citrus notes to it akin to grapefruit. Definitely a strong nose on this one, and actually a huge head sitting at about 1.5 inches.

Taste: It's got a nice bitter hop taste to it up front, giving that nice herbal taste that you come to expect from an IPA. The citrus notes are nice and mild, nothing like a Belgian Wheat might have, so definitely a good addition there. The end is sealed off by a slight malt taste, not to strong, but present. A nice bitter American IPA to be sure.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this beer a 7.5: It's a very drinkable beer for sure, would go great on a nice spring or summer day, but not anything out of this world in my opinion. It's definitely worth a try though, especially if you can get it on tap. A bit of a side note however, make sure you let it warm up a few degrees first. If it comes out too cold it will mute all the flavor this beer has to offer.

--Scott