Happy Hops Blonde Ale
Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California, United States 🇺🇸
Golden / Blonde Ale Rotating Out of Production|
Score
7.34
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Not really a Blonde Ale, not a Pale Ale, not an IPA. Happy Hops is a light colored refreshing ale with a pronounced hop character from the experimental 369 variety (Mosaic).
You may also see a special version of this beer once a year called Happy Hops Harvest, which is brewed with fresh "wet" hops grown locally.
Available year round
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0,5 litre Bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar, Escondido, Ca. Golden with white head. Malts, hops, pine, Tropical fruits, Nice balance.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Some grapefruit and a little tangerine. Pours golden with decent head. Not bad but nothing special either. Bottle.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Poured from a 500 ml bottle dated August 22, 2019. Aroma is hop forward with tropical fruit, citrus and stone fruit notes. Lighter resin and herbal hop notes. Light cracker malt note. Pours a rather clear, yellow gold with a large, thick, pillowy white head that recedes slowly to a small film that lingers. Flavor is slightly sweet with a bit of a dry finish and medium light cracker malt notes. Moderately strong bitterness and a faint alcohol note. Lots of hop flavor, mostly tropical fruit and citrus with lighter stone fruit, resin and herbal notes. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and low alcohol warmth. Overall, a nice IPA. Solid hop notes with a light malt backbone. Easy drinking, balanced and refreshing.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Got this from RaulMondesi. 500 ml bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 7/17/2019. Pours slightly hazy medium golden yellow color with a 2 finger dense and rocky off white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a large cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, cracker, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and pale male notes; with big strength. Taste of huge tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, cracker, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, cracker, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and pale male flavors; with an awesome malt/bitterness balance, and no lingering hop astringency after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy/sticky, and fairly crisp/resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 6.5%. Overall this is a fantastic IPA. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and pale male flavors; very smooth and fairly crisp to drink with the modestly bitter/resinous/drying finish; not overly aggressive. Feels like Centennial, Columbus, Simcoe. Extremely vibrant, juicy, dank, and earthy hops; with a great clean pale malt backbone. Mild residual sweetness with crisp resin dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and outstanding classic tasting West coast IPA as expected.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Draught at the brewery, smallish creamy head, clear gold color, ,onion, pomelo flavor, medium grapefruit bitterness, citrus fruity aroma. Really nice and enjoyable,
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
500ml bottle pours out golden topped with a white head. Nose is nice citrus floral hops mango and some sweet malts. Taste is more of the nice sweet malts rule citrus mango very nice.
Sunday night baseball. Have to listen to Jessica Mendoza b/c cannot get stereo to get local broadcast on.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Super crisp with the lightest bit of haze to a perfectly golden coloured body with a thinnish pure white head, about two centimetres tall. Aroma of super fresh, grassy and quite herbal hops with a big dose of resin - and not pungency - that hits very nicely and isn't too strong throughout. Light to Medium-bodied; Super strong grassy and herbal hops with a very nice fresh hop bite and finishing with a little subdued fruity notes of citrus and even a hint of guava. Aftertaste shows a little bite of fresh oranges and citrus elements with a super fresh and way more pungent hoppy bite that shows a little herbs and a dry hay note towards the end that makes this a bit more dry than typical, but still nice and easy drinking. Overall, a very enjoyable fresh hop beer that shows very nicely and leaves a good robust finish that isn't cloying or deep, just easy going and quite drinkable. I sampled this sixteen ounce sample on draught, at the brewpub in Santa Rosa, California on 11-March-2019 for US$6,00 while in Napa Valley, California.