Hop Cakes
NoDa Brewing Company in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Triple Special|
Score
6.90
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Our first special Imperial IPA release began as a simple experiment: “What would a huge hop bursting imperial IPA taste like if it used a sugar more commonly associated with darker/maltier beers, like maple syrup, instead of a lighter sugar like honey or dextrose?”. Hop Cakes is what resulted. An over 10% imperial IPA using only base grains to allow the addition of maple syrup to fully show what it could add to color and flavor. The syrup is added to the boil and is sourced in bulk from Vermont. The sugars main roll is adding increased fermentable sugars and some color but many still taste a subtle difference in the malt backbone from the syrup addition. The hops added to the brew are added aggressively throughout boil and in dry hopping giving a huge hop bouquet full of notes including pine, pear, pineapple, geraniol flowers and tangerine. All in the name of science, or buzzed curiosity, whichever works. Grain used is Two Row and Married Otter, Hops are CTZ, Warrior, Summit, Citra, Centennial, Eureka.
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8.4/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Super clear, bright copper coloured body with a nice orange glow, a perfect three centimetre tall, microfoamed tan head and zillions of bubbles rising from the bottom - simply beautiful! Aroma of alcohol, resin, grapefruit, pine, flowers and a good deal of malts - very nice in the nose, too. Full-bodied; Pretty astringent, medicinal, but very hoppy, bitterness from pine and resin, but some good malts are here as well, with some good balance, but the majority of the flavours are on the hoppy side of things, with some pungency of course from alcohol and resin, but the hops and sugar finish this off nicely. Aftertaste is rich, super strong and pretty bitter of course, but the alcohol, resin and astringent hops are the strongest here and last long. Overall, a definite old-school Imperial IPA with a deep, pungent, medicinal bitterness from the alpha acid hops, but a lot of resinous sweetness make this rich and strong for a long time - very nice to have as someone who lived through the Imperial IPA craze of the mid 2000s - this seems like a good throwback! I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Trader Joe's [grocery] in Morrisville (Cary), North Carolina on 10-June-2023 for US$4,00, canned on 11-January-2023 (as #1123 on the bottom of the can) and sampled at my house here in Washington on 03-July-2023.
Tried
from Can
on 09 Jun 2024
at 06:07
6.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Refrigerated aluminum can poured into a cup. Clear light amber with small white head. Aroma is maple syrup, lighter body, lower carbonation, and little lacing. Taste and s off maple syrup.
Tried
from Can
on 14 Mar 2019
at 23:35
6.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7
16oz can pours out a crisp pale straw topped with a white head. Nose is pine floral notes some sweetness. Tatse is more of the pine floral perfume notes and a bitter pithy end.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Mar 2018
at 22:04
6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Can from Steve. Bright golden, small fizzy head. Hoppy aroma, faint maple sweet back end. Taste too, mostly generic IPA flavors. Doesn't feel like a DIPA either.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Mar 2018
at 22:02
7.2/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
16oz can from Salud, pours a clear orange with some head that faded quickly. Nose has plenty of orange and soap, honey comb, a little tangerine, mild perfume. Flavor is sticky with honey and orange and grapefruit, a little lemon-lime soda, mild paper, some chewed bubblegum. Finishes full bodied and a little sticky. Reminds me of Hopslam when Hopslam was good.
Tried
from Can
on 13 Mar 2017
at 18:26
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draft at the source. Crystal clear yellow color. Nice fruity citrus aroma. Taste is earthy bitter orange. Dry finish. Good stuff.
Tried
from Draft
on 08 May 2016
at 12:54
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 8
Can thanks to Rainer. Pours a hazy gold with medium white head that lasts. The aroma is strong maple, pine, tropical fruit. Medium mouth, juicy, maple, very sweet, light bitterness, very good.
Tried
from Can
on 10 Apr 2016
at 17:16
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Location: Draft at VBGB, 2/24/15
Aroma: Nice hop aroma, some pine, citrus, a little booze, and some caramel as well
Appearance: It pours a decent looking orange color with a small head and decent lace
Flavor: The taste is similar, good hop bitterness, lightly sweet, and a bit of boozy flavor
Palate: The body is medium, leaning full, with a decent mouthfeel, and a light heat
Overall Impression: I thought this was a pretty nice DIPA, but I honestly didn't get any maple flavor at all. If not for the description, I wouldn't have know it was even suppose to be there. I guess the feel is a hint syrupy, but otherwise...
Aroma: Nice hop aroma, some pine, citrus, a little booze, and some caramel as well
Appearance: It pours a decent looking orange color with a small head and decent lace
Flavor: The taste is similar, good hop bitterness, lightly sweet, and a bit of boozy flavor
Palate: The body is medium, leaning full, with a decent mouthfeel, and a light heat
Overall Impression: I thought this was a pretty nice DIPA, but I honestly didn't get any maple flavor at all. If not for the description, I wouldn't have know it was even suppose to be there. I guess the feel is a hint syrupy, but otherwise...
Tried
from Draft
on 24 Feb 2015
at 22:59
7.3/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Can. Pours gold white head. Nose/taste of maple syrup, grapefruit peel, citrus, caramel malt and resin. Medium body.
Tried
from Can
on 24 Feb 2015
at 16:47
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Draft - Grapefruit and Skunky pine. Clear gold with a rich white head. Sweet light skunk and a big long vegetal bitterness.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Feb 2015
at 22:11