Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

I just picked up a bottle of Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum tonight and couldn't wait to crack it open. This thing is screaming hops at me even before I open it. The label boasts that this is, "The ultimate whole-cone hop experience." I hope it is!

I really dig the label and I'm usually neutral about most bottle labels and SN never really has anything this eye catching.

The beer specs:
ABV: 10.4%
Original Gravity: 22.8 Plato
Final Gravity: 4.5 Plato
Bitterness Units: 100 IBU
Color: Orange Amber
Bittering Hops: German Magnum
Aroma Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Dry Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Topedo Hops: Citra & Chinook
Malts: Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat
Yeast: Ale




I could smell the hops as soon as I started the pour. There is a dominate tropical citrus smell (grapefruit, tangerine, and mango) with some earthy hop aroma as well. The taste is unsurprisingly filled with hops, hops, and more hops as well. The initial hop flavor is herbal and spicy. This flavor gives way to pine and orange flavors on subsequent sips. The hops are clearly on display here, but there is a reasonable amount of caramel sweetness there was well. The bitterness is definitely tongue dominating, but I don't find it to be too much.

At 10.4% ABV I expected some of the alcohol to creep through into the aroma, but it never did. I did pick it up in the flavor and it was a little warm. That is my only knock against it really, but it is not that distracting since there is a really nice oily, full-bodied mouthfeel.  


I really enjoyed this beer. Since it looked like the bottle shop I go to was fully stocked with Hoptimum I'll have to make a trip back soon to pick up another bottle or two. This is another winner from SN and I'm really glad they put out a bigger beer like this. They can clearly make these big hop beers well.