Beers for Smart@ss: Four Peaks Hop Knot

I don’t know exactly why Smart@ss is prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages for the next six months – frankly there are some questions you don’t ask folks you bump into in bars or Internet blogs. What I do know is that one clever blogger has offered to do something nice for another clever blogger and I’ve offered to take a swing at lending a hand.

Vgrid over at Vbg-log has offered to consume beers for Smart@ss and following a request for other volunteers, I signed on to consume a beer for Smart@ss today.

The beer I’ve chosen is Hop Knot IPA, which is produced locally by Four Peaks Brewing here in Arizona. Since Smart@ss lives in the “middle(ish) of the Midwest” I’d like to think that perhaps he’s pining for warmer weather at the moment – it’s been in the high 70s here lately. Failing that, perhaps he’d like to sample a bottle of beer that is made in Arizona and available only on draft and in growlers, kegs and cases at the Four Peaks brewpubs. Here’s what it looked like a few weeks ago when I first pulled it out of the case:

Hoppy IPA’s are not a beer style to which I naturally gravitate. I purchased a case of Hop Knot in order to transact a beer trade with a fellow beer fan in Arkansas and, having sent off a portion of the case as trade goods, I’ve been slowly working my way through the remaining beers from the case. I have to say, I’m beginning to appreciate IPA’s quite a bit more, now that I’ve tried a few of them. The thing that I continue to dislike is the practice of over-hopping beers in a sick game of one-upsmanship. I liken these hop monsters to that scary guy down at the gym who’s clearly jazzed on ‘roids and likely to blow up at the slightest provocation. Can we stick with the traditional style standards, please? Hops for the sake of hops seems a bit extravagant these days. But enough of this! This beer’s for Smart@ss!

It strikes me that Smart@ss is a thinking man and as such, I think he’d enjoy the complexity of this Hop Knot. Perhaps the weather is more conducive to a stout or a porter where he is, but with the furnace stoked and the dual pane windows in place, an IPA might be a nice counter-seasonal choice.

Hop Knot smells like grapefruit, perhaps with hints of pine; certainly the mark of a well-hopped beer so I’m told. It’s dry with a slightly thick mouth feel and the carbonation seems low while the lacing is heavy for a bottle pour. I’d be interested in trying this on draft and I suspect Smart@ss would be too. As with a number of IPA’s I’ve sampled lately, my initial impression is that they taste a bit like a nondescript soda pop and Hop Knot finishes with that dry-in-the-back-of-the-throat feeling you get after eating slices of grapefruit. Great beer and perhaps one of the better local beers I’ve tried so far!

I’ve considered saying this many, many times over the years, but never thought I’d actually get to put it out there: Cheers, Smart@ass!