The Tasting
Below are the tasting notes I took while drinking Karbach’s Hopadillo IPA. If you tasted this beer or have a can open in front of you now, please share your thoughts with everyone down in the comments below.
Pour and Aroma:
Hopadillo pours a clean medium amber. Clarity is good, opening a window into the heavy streams of carbonation shooting up toward the surface. A pillowy two finger head blankets the top like so much off-white sea spume caught in an eddy. Head retention is excellent dropping slowly over the first few minutes, but holding, never disappearing completely.
Aroma is mostly of the hop persuasion here. Big citrus and pine at the front with some grassy notes tagging along just underneath. There is also some light earthiness and fruity whispers, no doubt, at least in part, a contribution of the additions of European hops. Lightly sweet malt backbone. Pleasant, but not overly complex.
Mouthfeel and Taste:
Mouthfeel is astringent across the palate and dries out toward the finish. Body is a pleasant and satiating light-medium.
Hopadillo IPA is nicely balanced. A combination of hops and malt play well toward the front of the palate. Might pick out some biscuit and caramel, but really the malt characteristics, other than the sweetness, are pretty mild. Med-palate, as you’d expect it transitions toward the hops, bringing an even, but not overly intense bitterness. Resin and a bit of grassiness follow. Toward the back the malt sweetness reappears before drying out on the finish and leaving the Hopadillo prowling and rubbing at the back of your throat building a long lasting reminder of his passing in the aftertaste.
