Brew Brain Blog

I bring to you, Hoppy Face Amber Ale from Hoppy Brewing Company, Sacramento, CA:

I remembered trying this beer probably seven or so years ago in their shop in Sac Town. I’ve been wanting to try it again ever since, and I got my chance when I found this 22 oz. bomber at BevMo. I remembered a huge over the top hop presence, so I was surprised to see it is an Amber Ale. I thought for sure it must be an IPA. Oh well, how did it do?

The beer pours a semi-clear orangish amber color with a big ol’ off-white pillow-type cloud head on top that sticks around for a bit. It isn’t as dark as many ambers I’ve tried.

The scents really moved around on me. Right out of the bottle it smelled of a pine forest, then I thought maybe a flower garden, then maybe a bowl of fruit. Any of the above point towards a big hoppy beer.

The taste has me a bit baffled. At first I didn’t think I liked it much. Then I thought I loved it. What the hell? Let’s just start off by stating the facts. This is an IPA, plain and simple. It has a lowish malt presence, a huge hops presence, and a pretty lofty alcohol presence. It’s an IPA no matter what they call it. I think once I realized that, I started liking the beer more. Psychology over taste buds? Maybe.

I tried like hell to come up with a malt character, but to be honest, there isn’t much of one. There is a little caramel in there way down deep, but the hops really rule the day here. I struggle to describe them - they seem a bit unpolished or raw or something. I’m not saying it’s bad at all. It’s just maybe not quite dialed in or something. It is at once spicy, citrus and woody or earthy and a bit bitter on the end. I’m not sure there was really a plan here, other than to hop the hell out of a beer and put a cute label on the bottle. Again, not that that’s a bad thing. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit once I got settled in. I guess this is sort of a goulash of a beer. And I like goulash. Just throw a bunch of stuff in the pot and eat it.

For my taste, this beer is a touch over-carbonated. It gets a bit frothy in my mouth and I feel like I’m swallowing foam by the time it gets down. If it weren’t foamy, I think it would probably be a bit on the watery side. It really could use a bit more of a malt presence. I think that’s probably the piece that would put a bow on this one.

Overall, I still don’t know what to think. I think this is one that will probably get a lot of varying opinions. Hell, I had two completely different opinions and some in between by the time I got to the bottom of my glass. If you like hops, give it a shot. If you don’t like hops, you have no shot. That’s about the size of it.

Enjoy your beer,

Brew Brain