Alright, a couple of beers from Twisted Pine Brewing. I was hooked up with the Hoppy Boy IPA by Clark Diehl at Uplifters Spirits, who specializes in German (and specifically Bavarian) imports, but he threw one of these in along with some of the German beers he gave me. Thanks for that!
Twisted Pine brewing is out of Boulder, Colorado and I'm pretty sure I've seen the Hoppy Boy around town, but I don't recall seeing any of their other beers locally. The other one in this post, the Northstar Imperial Porter, was one I picked up in Spec's in Houston. For the Hoppy Boy I poured from a 12 ounce twist-off bottle into an imperial pint.
It's a hazy copper color with a small white head. Good pooling on the surface of the beer, an average look for an IPA in my opinion.
The aroma is expectedly hop forward, with piney notes dominating. There is a slight bit of caramel back there as well. The taste is more of the same, bitter hops, not as much malt as the aroma, and a lingering bitter aftertaste.
It's a little thin, overall an average IPA. I scored it a C+ which is maybe even a little low with the standard beer advocate inflated ratings, but I feel like this could be a good barometer for IPAs. If you find one worse than this one, it's not a good IPA. That sounds worse than I intend, but life is too short to regularly drink bad beer. Or maybe even average beer.
My Rating: C+
BeerAdvocate: B-
Now for the Northstar Imperial Porter... this one I picked up at Spec's in Houston on a whim. Sometimes they have such a huge selection that it's hard to pick out just a few beers and not go crazy so I usually stick to breweries that I know consistently put out good products.
I poured this brew from the bomber bottle (22 oz. folks!) into an imperial pint glass. It's a deep rich dark brown color with about a finger worth of creamy tan head. This is a great looking beer in my opinion.
The aroma is a little weak but what I do pick up is some roasted bitter dark chocolate malt notes. Nothing too special here.
The taste is a lot more bold, those same roasted malt flavors burst through and are followed by a cool bitterness that really balances out each sip.
It's thick and full bodied, the flavors linger well together on the tongue. Other than the weak aroma this is a really good beer.
My Rating: B+
BeerAdvocate: B+
So I guess it's a little mixed reviews on Twisted Pine Brewing... I'd definitely check them out again if I saw a beer that looked particularly interesting.
I poured this brew from the bomber bottle (22 oz. folks!) into an imperial pint glass. It's a deep rich dark brown color with about a finger worth of creamy tan head. This is a great looking beer in my opinion.
The aroma is a little weak but what I do pick up is some roasted bitter dark chocolate malt notes. Nothing too special here.
The taste is a lot more bold, those same roasted malt flavors burst through and are followed by a cool bitterness that really balances out each sip.
It's thick and full bodied, the flavors linger well together on the tongue. Other than the weak aroma this is a really good beer.
My Rating: B+
BeerAdvocate: B+
So I guess it's a little mixed reviews on Twisted Pine Brewing... I'd definitely check them out again if I saw a beer that looked particularly interesting.
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