Victory Hop Wallup

Take this thread with a grain of salt. I don't mean to offend anyone with my opinion. Please also consider that I live in San Diego so the beers here are a bit different and I'd like to think that the brewers out here are a bit more experienced with the big hop stuff.

So my local pub had 12oz Hop Wallups available for $4 so I figured what the heck, I like the Hop Devil and I've had the 12 before and it's good, it's only $4 so let's go for it.

Oh dear lord, this was the most disgusting beer I think I've ever had. At first it was super malty, I'm not a huge malt fan, but the maltyness wasnt that bad. Tolerable if you will, but then I was hit with the most offensive bitter hop taste I've ever experienced. It seems as if there were no aroma hops in the beer at all or if they intended there to be some, they ended up bittering the beer along with whatever they added to intentionally bitter it.

I only got through about 8oz of it before I had to request an Alpine Pure Hoppiness to cleanse my palate.

Hmmmm. I had a 12 oz. bottle of Hop Wallup last night and I thought it was very good. But @ $10 a six pack I expect to get blown away. Didn't happen. Good beer, though.

Maybe the stuff I had was bad? got hot, then cold and hot again a few times maybe. In any eveny, I think this was the first time I've ever not finished a beer.

Sucks when that happens. I was excited to try a bottle of Dogfish Head 90 Minute. I finally broke down and bought a $10 4-pack. I thought it was awful. Every sip was torture. But I finished it!

Good chance the beer was over-heated at some point. Hop aroma doesn't last long at higher temps. The malt & bittering would stick around.

Sounds like a job for Randall - The Enamel Animal!

I know more than a few craft/hop fans that really dislike Hop Wallop. I have noticed a slightly sour flavor with some of my local tap/bottle samplings of Hop Devil recently and have been getting my hop fix elsewhere than Victory.

brewt00l said:

I know more than a few craft/hop fans that really dislike Hop Wallop. I have noticed a slightly sour flavor with some of my local tap/bottle samplings of Hop Devil recently and have been getting my hop fix elsewhere than Victory.

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I should amend this as I have a bottle of hop devil before me in my glass and it is more of a very metallic "twang" than a truly sour flavor.

I am drinking a hop wallop right now, and I like it. It is very grainy, maybe like a pils. It is pleasantly bitter, nice aroma and flavor. I get a little astringent bitter at the finish, but overall, I like it. I would like to work up an IPA with some similar qualities. I am thinking maybe something like:

10lbs pils
1lb light crystal
8 oz aromatic (is that too much?)

Clean bittering hop for FWH (Columbus?)
Same hop at 60 or 90
an oz of Centennial at 20
an oz of Cent at 5
an oz of Cent dry-hop

Thoughts?

I wasn't impressed by Hop Wallop, to me it was like Golden Monkey turned into an IPA. Same spices for flavoring just more hops. I like Storm King and Hop Devil, but the overwhelming clove flavor in Hop Wallop and Golden Monkey turns me off.

Hop Wallup is just a different beast of a DIPA, kind of like Founders Double Trouble. Much more of an earthy piney taste than the citrusy grapefruit bombs that the West coast is putting out. I personally like this DIPA with a little age on it (I know, but it brings out the malt kind of like a 90 min), but it is not for everyone. Try setting 1 or 2 aside in cellar conditions for a year and try again. Hope your next experience is better, Cheers!

I've got a bunch of Hop Wallop in the fridge right now, and I like it quite a bit. Of course the original posts in this thread are two years old, so who's to say that today's Hop Wallop is the same as it was before. Maybe they had QC issues in the past or something.