Beer Review: Deschutes “Hop Trip” Pale Ale

I’ve been building up a good collection of awesome local micro-brews to try out, so I’m going to make a regular feature of my “beer reviews”. Stick with me, since I’m hardly a veteran beer taster, and I’ll be kind of learning as I go.

Deschutes “Hop Trip” Pale Ale is a special-edition brew from their Bond Street series. A “Fresh Hop Pale Ale”, it is brewed with “wet” Willamette Valley hops, freshly picked and added immediately to the boil.

Deschutes "Hop Trip" Pale Ale

The resulting beer is hoppier than a normal pale ale, and the fresh hop character really shows through in the final brew, yielding a beer with a bit more “guts” than an normal IPA. Those hops are balanced with malty sweet caramel flavors to make a well-rounded, very drinkable beer. The kind of beer that makes me wish I’d bought more than one bottle of it, since the chances of me finding another bottle of this limited-edition brew next time I go back to the store aren’t good.

Overall, I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10 on my still very immature beer rating scale.

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