Epic Brewing Company- Hopulent IPA: An Abundance Of Hoppiness
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 5:22PM | by Jason 
I’m back!! I’ve had some adversity to deal with the last few weeks but hopefully most of my troubles are behind me. A few days back I had to travel to Washington, DC for some job related stuff. Lucky for me I met a super kick-ass chick at a friend’s wedding a few months back and she just so happens to live in DC. I touched base with here before making the trip and we arranged to head out for a few tasty Craft Brews. She took me to this amazing place called Churchkey that had a beer list that it one of the largest I have ever seen, 550 different beers. That’s a lotta brews! There were tons to love about the place but my favorite things were the option of a 4 ounce pour. This allows for the maximization of tasting different brews without losing your ability to walk afterwards. The second coolest thing, they had Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Weasel…let me just say AMAZING. So after our visit to Churchkey, Megan took me to a Whole Foods around the corner and said that they have a great selection. Being out of town I knew that I had a little bit of space in the suitcase to bring some tasty brews back home with me. I scanned the shelves and I have to say that the fine folks in Washington, DC have a great variety of Craft Brew to choose from. One of the beers that caught my eye was from Epic Brewing Company, reason being that it is a brew from Utah (which I have yet to have) and I’ve never had an Epic Brewing Company brew. Hell, we’ve never reviewed a Craft Beer from Utah on the website. So I decided to grab a Hopulent IPA, no surprise there, and add it to the pile that would accompany me home.
Epic Brewing Company classifies this brew as an Imperial India Pale Ale (IIPA) and their website describes Hopulent IPA as, “Hopulent IPA is a big beer with lots of complex malt flavor and excessive hops. This beer will have changes to the grain bill and seasonal hop changes. The character of Hopulent IPA is over the top, too much of everything—a real HOP HEADS DELIGHT! Release one weighed in well over 9% ABV with almost 10 pounds of dry hops in the 10-barrel tank.” Hopulent IPA is unique in that they make changes to each batch/release they do. This one is from batch 14 and it is described as, “We lowered the Chinook hops to let the Columbus, Centennial, and Simcoe take the bill. Premium Briess Two Row with a nearly equal amount of Ultra Premium Maris Otter as the base malts. Briess Munich Malt and Weyermann CaraMunich I finish off the bill nicely. In the Boil: Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe and more Simcoe. The Dry Hops: Chinook and Centennial.”
Hopulent IPA pours a slightly burnt orange with a big 1 ¼” beige head. The aroma is a combination of citrus and pine with hints of earthyness. Release 14 is 8.6% ABV.
Well, for my first ever Utah brewed/Epic Brewing Company offering, I have to say that this is a solid brew. I’m really digging the hoppiness of Hopulent IPA, it’s not overly biting but has a great bite with wonderful hop flavor. I get some great grapefruit notes in the flavor as well as some spicy characteristics. Hopulent IPA has a faint malt presence but for me this works nicely. The finish is both clean and crisp with a nice hop aftertaste. Hopulent IPA is a really good brew that was well worth the purchase and suitcase space. That being said, this just adds another beer to the list of brews that I would happily purchase if available in my area…unfortunately it’s not.
ABV: 8.6%
Consumed: Ionic Pint Glass
Verdict: Buy A Twelve Pack
