Recently, I completed my first beer trade. Though it may have taken a little longer than expected, I was thrilled with the end result. The trade ended up netting me six great beers that I can't get here in San Diego (including two that are rated in the top 20 in the world on Beer Advocate and one bottle from a batch of only 900) and a can of Cincinnati's famous Skyline Chili. Overall, a pretty good trade. One of the beers that I was most excited to try was Hopslam, a huge Double IPA from Bell's Brewery in Michigan.
Hopslam pours a slightly hazy honey color with a smallish, white head and nice lacing down the glass. On a side note, the bottle art is pretty great. The picture on the label is of a guy being flattened under a huge hop cone. Nice touch, Bell's.
The smell of this one is hoppy, but also really sweet. There's a lot of honey here as well as citrus hops, honeydew and a slight bit of earthiness.
For me, the best part of this beer was how nicely it was balanced. The hops aren't as huge as I was expecting, but they were there enough to be enjoyed. There was a lot of malt and honey sweetness towards the middle of this but I was glad to find that the sweetness wasn't overwhelming and the hops returned on the finish. This was a great beer and one I'm really lucky to have gotten to try.
Final Grade: A
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