Weyerbacher Brewing Company Hops Infusion India Pale Ale - A Microbrew Blog Review

I picked up Weyerbacher Brewing Company's Hops Infusion this evening along with several other nifty looking India Pale Ales since I guess I'm in a hoppy mood. What else could it be that I focused on this particular style of microbrew to review for the remainder of the weekend?

Weyerbacher Brewing Company is based in Easton, Pennsylvania and has provided me with quite a few favorable reviews of many of their craft beer products I'm happy to say. I'm hoping their Hops Infusion India Pale Ale doesn't let me down and continues a fine track record for producing some good to great microbrews.

Cracking the bottle cap of this chilled 12 ounce brown bottle of brew, I poured carefully into my unchilled 10 ounce glass beer mug to find a visual display of an almost mahogany, copper colored liquid, slightly hazy from the chill is my initial assumption.

The beer smells pretty good just waving my nose several times intently across the brim of my beer mug. Zesty, spicy and that oh-so familiar hoppy scent that leads me anxiously into the first of many sips of the microbrew. Tinges of mild floral aroma add some character to the beer's bouquet.

The very first sip is crisp and crunching with the hops. There's a very good punch of tip-of-tongue bitterness with lively enough carbonation to make this beer "jump" on my tongue. Swallow is full and rich with an unobtrusive coating of malty sweetness on the sides of my mouth filtering to the far back of my tongue. There's an expected presence of piney citrus abound, but the malt ingredient in this Pennsylvania craft beer is very well balanced for the IPA style.

It's definitely bitter from the hops, as you would commonly expect from any India Pale Aleworth its salt, but very nicely balance and almost rich as silk from it's sweeter sidekick Mr. malt. I like it and I suspect many others might as well (if you're into hoppier beers and it's available in your neighborhood).

Weyerbacher Brewing Company continues to produce some of the better microbrews which I've been lucky enough to have the pleasure of sampling and reviewing. Hops Infusion follows suit and does nothing to tarnish that great microbrewing reputation. I'm not sure just how far west the Weyerbacher beer brand reaches in its marketing and distribution, but if you're in the mood for trying a new India Pale Ale, I'd recommend Weyerbacher Hops Infusion as a microbrew that will not set you into orbit, but will certainly make you want another one or two if you get the chance. It's a very good summer's evening back porch sitting with friends kind of IPA. Try it, you'll like it!

P.S. Weyerbacher Brewing Company Hops Infusion clocks in at 6.2% alcohol by volume according to the bottle label and website. Not over the top in ABV but enough to make you want to bear it in mind if you grab a six pack. Might be good to split with a friend if you plan to finish all six at an outing. One last note, the bottle beer label is a cool closeup photo-type image of a hop flower. Real nice and indicative of what you'll be getting inside the bottle.

If you found any enjoyment in reading this microbrew beer review and if you love craft beers in particular, you'll find more craft beer reviews of both new and old microbrews and also fun microbrew and craft beer-related info at Microbrew Review or Best Craft Beer Reviews. Click the links above and please let me know what you liked or hated and let me know any beers that you might like to see me review next time. Cheers and please drink responsibly!

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Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA - A Microbrew for Hop Lovers

I tried another of my mix and match six pack purchased from a local bottle store tonight. Yesterday, you might recall my displeasure with my selection of the day (the Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic). But today, it's an entirely different story. Enter Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe IPA.

I've sampled multiple IPA's and DIPA's over my time (that's India Pale Ale and Double India Pale Ale) and this recent example is one of the best, at least of those that I've tried. First off, just opening the bottle and giving it a whiff from only about 6 inches away gave off that powerful piney scent indicative of most quality IPA's. The aroma was one of the strongest I've experienced and only increased with the pour into a standard 16 ounce pint glass.

Secondly, the frothy head on this beer is amazing. Simply amazing. This is root beer float type stuff here. My timid pour resulted in a three-finger head lasting about five minutes and then ever so slightly dwindling to two permanently. The head lasted for the entire serving and left extreme clinging lace all the way from the top of my glass. It'll probably still be there in the morning unless I rinse it out.

The color is nothing overly spectacular compared to other IPA's I've examined. Witnessed was a bright, yet murky coppery/orange color that is respectable yet unremarkable as far as appearance goes. Carbonation levels very high with what seemed like hundreds of small bubble parades surfacing from the depths.

The best part is the taste though. Piney. Very, very piney, yet being a double, the malt background gives just enough of a countering punch to this microbrew to offset the power of those massively prevalent hops. A sweet enough finish to balance it out without going overboard and making it too sticky on the palette and too heavy in the mouth.

My Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA was experienced over the course of about 40 pleasurable minutes. This is a sipper in my opinion and is definitely one to be savored (ie. not a tailgating beer). In fact, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I could see myself enjoying one of these maybe an hour or so after my turkey dinner. Too bad I only bought one though. Oh well.

Here's the long and short of it all. I really enjoyed this microbrew. It is not cheap however. I purchased my single bottle for $3.50 and have seen a case at my local distributor at $45.00. I'd thought about buying a case of 24 but definitely wanted to sample it first. Test passed. A+ but I still need to come up with the cash now to go full bore. If you can get your hands on one in your area (and you like double IPA's or at least IPA's) I would certainly recommend trying it. It's rather a rare find too even here in Pennsylvania where it is brewed being a very limited "seasonal" type offering (although I have heard that Weyerbacher has considered making this a year-round offering in their stable of fine elixirs). One other thing to note is this is a powerhouse of a beer and logs in at 9% ABV so please, don't go crazy if you do try this. One in a sitting is plenty, and at $45.00/case, you'll want to make it last as long as possible anyway, right?

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA is no "turkey" folks. In fact, I'm deeming it an 8.25 out of 10.00 in my book of ratings. Go out and get it before it's gone! Happy Turkey Day!! Give thanks for microbrews!

You can check out more reviews of new microbrews and fun microbrew and craft beer related info at Microbrew Review or My Squidoo Lens. Check out Summer Microbrew too!