This is going to be a rough week. Four beer reviews this week. I forgot to try Moon Under Water's fresh hopped IPA. The Phillips fresh hopped IPA release is peculiar. I wonder if the timing for picking of the hops had anything to do with it? Driftwood picked hops September 5 and Satori hit shelves and it hit shelves September 26th (21 days). This is consistent with Oregon Hop Commission recommendations to pick hops mid August to mid September. Phillips' hops arrived past mid month on September 20th and brews hit the shelf October 22nd (32 days). All photos and release dates came from brewer's facebook pages. Makes you wonder is this made any difference; this is no Sartori.

Green Reaper = 3/10

The nose starts off well with muted floral hints and mild fruits. Once the fluid hits the tongue, things go wrong. There is just not much there. The hop residue is a tad flat, maybe a hint of mint, citrus, cotton candy and photocopy paper. The malts are almost non-existant, no chewiness, no breadiness, no nothing. Luckily the ending is nice, only a mild tongue coating of tired citrus hops remain. Maybe it was the picking time, who knows. I have had wonderful IPAs from Phillips. Usually the single hop IPAs in the Hop Box are golden. If you release a fresh hopped, or any IPA, in this town you will meet some fierce scrutiny. It's OK, but I was expecting more.

Taste +1
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content +1 6.5%
Value -1 was not impressed
Appearance +1 Always great label art and good description of beer