I had someone tell me the other day that there was a beer vendor in my town that has a decent craft beer selection so that I should check it out. Decent craft beer selection at a beer vendor in my town?! I have to check it out! Well, I made a visit and really, it was underwhelming - it was 90% Molson/Labatt products with a craft beer here and there, barely any Manitoban beers. I did find a couple beers by Moosehead's Hop City Brewing in stock, but I wouldn't exactly write home about those either.. but I came in to buy something so I ended up picking up a can of their Big Tiki and a can of HopBot IPA. I haven't had HopBot IPA in a couple years, and apparently I was a fan of this beer even though I find Hop City to be meh in general.
HopBot IPA is 7.2% ABV and 'programmed' with five West Coast American hops and apparently has absurd citrus and tropical aroma/flavour.
Hops: Citra, Centennial, Mosaic, Summit, Willamette / Malt: Pale Two-Row, Carastan, Crystal, Black, Torrified Wheat
Appearance: Clear amber-coloured IPA with a good amount of carbonation in the body and quite a thick and creamy head that has a light beige hue to it. The head diminishes rather quickly, leaving behind a layered lacing, looks pretty nice.
Aroma: West Coast? Certainly. It's got flavours all over the place - I get sweet, I get tropical, and I get bitter/floral as eff. There's notes of pine, a bit of woodiness, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, and a bit of caramel. Each time I have this beer, there's an aroma I just can't pick out, it's a sharp aroma that reminds me a bit of European lagers in green bottles but it's not a skunkiness.
Taste: There's a good deal of pine in this IPA with a leafiness to it, a tad nuttiness, but overall tropical and sweet - lots of pineapple, hint of guava and a decent amount of lemon. Somewhat metallic and tad bready.
Overall Thoughts: Hop City's HopBot is decent but has a bit of a generic manufactured taste to it that I feel like this could be made at just about any large brewery, but then the hops taste pretty classic of an IPA I'd be drinking 5+ years ago, no taste of extract or anything. This is probably one of the better beers over at Hop City but I do wish they would work on their beers as most of their lineup is meh for somehow being "craft beer". I wouldn't mind if Moosehead shared their Strawberry Rhubarb Milkshake IPA recipe with them..
https://www.hopcity.com/beers/hopbot/
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