Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

From the Lagunitas Brewing Company, in Petaluma, California, this is their Hop Stoopid.  The label says 104 IBU, and tells a fun little story about drinking awesome hoppy beer.  At 8% alcohol, this is a fairly mild brew compared to some of the more intense beers on the market today.

The pour reveals a nice medium-amber color, with great clarity.  The full-finger foam is off-white to cream color, and lingers for several minutes.  There are TONS of tiny bubbles rising from the etching on the bottom of my DFH glass.  After the foam subsides a bit, I give it a strong swirl and the foam rises again quickly, but subsides with very subtle lacing.

The nose is crisp and clean.  I’m getting soft citrus hops, with just a little bit of floral notes.  I can’t pick up any hints of malt or alcohol at all.  I’m not surprised really, the last time I had this one, I tasted nothing but hops for 12 hours.

Once I take a sip, my memory doesn’t do the Hop Stoopid justice.  It starts just slightly hoppy, and more of the floral and citrus-style hops than very bitter.  But, the complexity seems to go on forever!  Several minutes after taking a sip, I’m still picking up different hops subtleties on different areas of the palatte.  The tip of my tongue gets just a little bit of citrusy, grapefruity hops, while the sides of my tongue get the rough and bitter hops, and the back of the tongue is somewhere between the two. 

Last time I had this Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas, I was a different type of beer drinker; the hops were almost too much for me to handle.  Since then, I’ve described this brew as “just hoppy, nothing sweet, complicated, or intense about it – just lots of hops.”  I’m going to retract that description from now on.  The Lagunitas Hop Stoopid is hoppy, but far more complex than I had previously given it credit for.

Lagunitas Brewing Co.

Hop Stoopid Ale

T.C.S.H. Rating:  8.5/10

A.k.a. – one of the best hop-bombs I’ve had to date

Eli at TheCorkStopsHere

Bibo ergo Sum