United Nations of Beer

Hop Ocalypse IPA

by Joel Perry
(Beer Delegate, MD, USA)

Hop-Ocalypse IPA
Clay Pipe Brewing Company, Westminster, MD, USA

Let me start this review by saying that I am a die-hard fan of IPAs (India Pale Ales) and as is such I am slightly partial even to "lesser" IPAs; those IPAs which may or may not be hailed by the so-called experts in the beer community.

With that being said, let me warn you that Hop-Ocalypse IPA is not as complex as other IPAs I've tasted. However, its beauty lies within its simplicity.

Hop-Ocalypse is brewed in Westminster, Maryland, at a very small brewery named Clay Pipe Brewing Company. Under the leadership of Gregg Norris, they have been brewing beer since March of 2002. There is no restaurant attached to their building and they only brew three or four beers at a time.

When brewing Hop-Ocalpyse IPA, Clay Pipe utilizes a top-fermenting yeast and a two-row malted barley, as well as three different types of hops. The result is a gorgeous copper color that pours smoothly and finishes with a three-quarter-inch thick frothy head. It exhibits a citrus and grapefruit aroma. On the IBU (International Bitterness Units scale) scale it ranks at 50, so this definitely has a very nice bite to it.

The beauty of this particular IPA is that the flavor doesn't necessarily challenge your taste buds with a multitude of flavors: it simply presents exactly what you smelled while pouring it, a nice citrus start with an even better grapefruit finish.

Essentially this beer tastes exactly as you'd expect a good IPA to taste like. Like I said earlier, its beauty is in its simplicity.

I would highly recommend it to any fellow hop-heads out there. If you are in the Maryland area, you shouldn’t have any problem picking up a six pack. Outside of Maryland though, I'm not certain how available it is.