Getting Savage

Not everything that came out of the 1980s was bad; yes, the decade saw the rise of the mullet (aka The Tennessee Top Hat) and the birth of pegged jeans, the evil ancestor of the current skinny jeans scourge, but it also marked the emergence of several craft beer powers like Sierra Nevada, Boston Beer Company, and Anchor Brewing. These pioneers, along with others, set the stage for what is now the golden age of American Craft beer. Why do I call this the golden age of American craft beer? Number one, because I'm living in it and it’s human nature to attach more importance to any time that you're living in. Number two, there have never been more commercial breweries in the United States than now (that includes pre-prohibition the other golden age of American beer ). Number three, brewers are currently bending and recasting the guidelines of style with amazing results. It's a good time to be a craft beer drinker -- strike that, it's a FANTASTIC TIME to be a craft beer drinker.

One of these '80s pioneers who has firmly established itself as a craft beer power in the Western U.S. is Bend, Oregon's Deschutes Brewery. Founded in 1988 by Gary Fish as a Brewpub, Deschutes has become one of the countries preeminent craft breweries. From their staples Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Ale to their Reserve Series that include such masterpieces as The Abyss and Mirror Mirror, Deschutes has shown an innate ability to make beers for both the casual craft beer drinker and the extreme “why the hell are you taking notes in a bar?” beer drinker. Let me drop my pseudo-journalistic tone for a moment and say if I were told I could only drink beer from one brewery for the rest of my life Deschutes would definitely make my top three, after that the decision would be more gut wrenching than when I had to decide between Team Jacob or Team Edward. (I chose Team Edward not because of Robert Pattison’s aura of sexy indifference but because of the hair hygiene issues that a wolf man likely has.)

Deschutes has an extensive roster of beers so choosing one could potentially pose difficulty, but remember this blog is about value. That isn’t to say that I won’t review more expensive beers some time down the road -- value can still be had with more expensive offerings -- but my focus for now is keeping things under the $7-8 per bomber mark. The beer I ended up choosing was their Hop Henge Experimental IPA which I picked up a bomber of for $6.49.

According to the Deschutes website, Hop Henge is part of its Bond Street Series, which “highlights a handful of hop-forward beers that began when Deschutes was just a small brewpub.” I have to say I like the idea of paying tribute to their brewpub origins. Okay, maybe there is a slight marketing gimmick at work here but when a fledgling brewery finds that first hit with the public it is undoubtedly a seminal moment and paying homage seems only fitting.

Hop Henge pours a sharp semi-translucent copper with a two-fingered white head that quickly disseminates to a thin layer. The odor is an enticing perfume of caramel and citrus. The malts are in the driver’s seat but the hops are definitely not passive bystanders. Now this is where things get interesting. Remember that rash of movies where a kid and an adult would switch bodies? Of course there’s “Freaky Friday” but I’m more of a “Vice Versa” man myself. (Savage and Reinhold, no script necessary folks, just switch the cameras to on and let the magic happen.) Hop Henge pulls a “Vice Versa” in that the taste is the inverse of the nose. The caramel malts emerge a little in the beginning but the citrus hops take control from the middle on and build to a sharp assertive bitterness. This beer has a certain rawness to it and I feel like I could be back at the Deschutes brewpub circa 1991 rocking out to some Alice in Chains.

The mouthfeel pulls its own little “Vice Versa”: it is seemingly thin initially but leaves a heavy coat of hops and malts on the tongue. I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention the Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore starrer “Like Father, Like Son.” The casting of this movie could not have been more of a mismatch. You have a multi-talented comedian, composer, and musician in Dudley Moore and an anti-evolution crusading no-talent d-bag in Kirk Cameron. I hope Dudley had his memory erased of this abomination while Kirk might get trapped on an island of sexually-deprived Neanderthals.

Hop Henge is a beer characterized by its contradictions but ultimately it’s these contradictions that make it a complex and enjoyable brew. While many Double IPAs go heavier on the malts to achieve more balance, Hop Henge embraces the bittering power of its hops while not taking your pallet hostage in the process. The $6.49 price tag isn’t unreasonable, you are getting a solid Double IPA that is almost 9% abv and could make a viewing of “18 Again” tolerable (yet another one), but knock a dollar off and you would have something really special.

Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental IPA
Double IPA
8.75% abv
$6.49 for a bomber
$:) $:)