Beer Review: Dogfish Aprihop

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: Seven percent

Appearance: The body of Aprihop is on the darker side of the copper slope with some ruby red hues here and there as well. There was a prominent cream-colored head almost immediately after I finished pouring it. The head ended up leaving some thick lacing which was really sticky. I mean sticky to the point where there were still bubbles popping as it stuck to the inside of the glass. I mean that in a very good way.

Smell: The beer's aroma consisted mainly of hops. I wasn't expecting anything different. With an IPA, you usually get a grapefruit scent/flavor with it. This is mostly from the hops used in the brewing process. That wasn't so with this one. I got a small appetizer of apricot fruitiness.

Taste: The fruitiness of the apricot hit me right up front on each sip. I wouldn't want it any other way. It disappeared as it drifted towards the back of the tongue and  transpired into the Amarillo hop bitterness. The apricot pops back into the taste picture a millisecond before everything goes down. As I mentioned earlier, grapefruit is usually a prominent citrus flavor in IPA's. I enjoyed the apricot in this beer's taste. It complimented the hop bitterness in quite an interesting way.

Overall Rating: 

I rarely say it, but this was an IPA that was a home run with me. I pretty much will love anything with apricot. This had some hop bitterness, but it didn't completely obliterate my taste buds as some IPA's are prone to doing. The apricot acted as a slight surprise as it drifts across the tongue. The fruitiness and bitterness compliment each other nicely.