Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Hop Slam Ale

Brewery: Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Where: Comstock, Michigan
Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
IBU: Off the Scale
ABV: 10%

Today's sampling is going to include a personal tirade about the state of craft/micro beers in America, but first, let's talk about this beer...

Bell's Hop Slam Ale is an American Double / Imperial IPA style of beer, which means two things.  First, its stuff full of hops for bitterness and aroma, and second, it's got a lot of alcohol.  At 10% ABV, you can consider a 12-ounce bottle to have a full 1.2 ounces of alcohol.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider a shot of whiskey is 1.5 ounces, and that most whiskey is 80 proof, drinking a 10% ABV beer is like having just over two shots of your favorite liquor as far as alcohol content is concerned.  It's not a beer to be consumed in large quantities. 

This beer poured with the standard golden color and foamy head of a good IPA.  The hop aroma is immediately present, without a doubt.  This beer is also quite bitter, but it does have a fairly decent malt presence.  As this beer warms up, the maltiness comes forward with a little more power, but the bitterness hangs on to the very end.  As far as I'm concerned, you won't find a beer any hoppier than this one.  Your hardcore beer enthusiasts will start to discuss a beer called "Pliny the Elder" in comparison, but it is a rather different beer than this one.  It does not have as much of a malt backbone as the Hop Slam does, but it may be just a bit more drinkable in the long run...

Now, for my personal rant...

I am finding myself in a minority when it comes to the current state of affairs with American beers.  Being in a taste minority in the world of beer really sucks sometimes.  I'm jealous because a lot of the great craft brewers in the US are spending their time and efforts developing beers much like Bell's Hop Slam.  These beers are all higher gravity (more alcohol) and high hops (more bitterness).  For a person with my personal tastes in beer, this is a travesty.  I'm a bigger fan of the maltier (sweeter) beers where there is a nice balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness.  I even like the sweeter beers where the hop presence is relatively minimal.  I don't dislike the hop bombs with a ton of alcohol, but I'd usually choose a different beer when choices are available to me.  Even thought I'm not personally happy with the current trends in the craft beer market in the US, I am VERY pleased that these beers are available and becoming more popular and easy to find on the store shelves.  What this means to fans of craft beers is that our favorite brewers and beers are gaining a market share in a world that is still dominated by the yellow fizzy beers of the Bud/Miller/Coors manufacturing titans.  It wasn't that long ago that a trip to any grocery or convenient store in North Carolina would yield exactly zero options for anything other than cheap yellow fizzy beer.  It's getting a lot easier to find beers I love locally...

Until next time...