Review: Deschutes Brewery Hop Henge Experimental IPA (2015)
Deschutes’ Hop Henge continues its run of being “just OK,” with this year’s special edition — well, late 2015’s special edition — of its “experimental IPA” incorporating Mandarin Bavaria and Centennial hops (among others). Bitterness is ratcheted quite a bit down from last year to just 66 IBUs, the overall impact of all this being, well, not all that much.
There’s a citrus note here that west coast IPA fans will find familiar, but a burlier character forest floor character quickly takes hold. Notes of mushroom and licorice persevere, then a familiar piney character becomes evident. Here, though, it has more of a solvent note than I’d like. The finish is clean but, unfortunately, just a bit watery.
As always, this is a fun beer to try, but it just doesn’t add much to the IPAverse.
8.9% abv.
B / $6 per 22 oz. bottle / deschutesbrewery.com
Deschutes Brewery Hop Henge Experimental IPA (2015)
$6
