Bell's Hop Slam

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I wish...it's one of my favorites.

They don't give any info on their site besides the OG (1.087) and the ABV (10%)

I'm heading there in july, maybe I can pick someones brain at the brewery.
 
One of my buddies works at the brewery and gave me a tour of the place last weekend. I got to talk to a lot of the brewers and they were all nice and surprisingly willing to answer all of my questions. Hopslam was out of season so I didn't get to see the specialty malt that goes into that one, but I do know that they add honey to increase the gravity and it is centennial hops all the way through. I'll poke around and see if any of the employees have a scaled down recipe since almost all of them are homebrewers.
 
missing link said:
I've wanted to try this one but I can't get myself to pay $16 for a 6 pack.
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I found it for around $12 a six pack, I think, and it is totally worth every penny. Considering all the hops and other ingredients that are in it, with the shortage and all, the price makes sense. Great great beer.
 
I don't have a clone, but I started drooling when I saw the title of this thread!

mmmmmmmmm HopSlam
 
HopSlam is one of my favs as well.

Haven't tried the Nugget Nectar, but I have wondered how it is....I see it at the beer store every time I am there. Often thought about taking the plunge and buying a case. Stupid PA laws....can't buy a six pack to try...:(
 
sleepystevenson said:
HopSlam is one of my favs as well.

Haven't tried the Nugget Nectar, but I have wondered how it is....I see it at the beer store every time I am there. Often thought about taking the plunge and buying a case. Stupid PA laws....can't buy a six pack to try...:(
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you currently can't at a distributor but you can buy 6 packs and singles at plenty of places, depending on the area....However if you like hopslam, you won't regret a case of NN.

So no one has a clone recipe on hopslam?
 
Here was my attempt. I just kegged it yesterday and it is in all modesty, quite good. It is definitely a full-strength double IPA. The honey flavor is subtle and gives it a "smoothness". Definitely bitter, but balanced enough with all that honey... I don't think I can find Hopslam anymore to really compare. I do remember a grapefruit-like aroma that I didn't quite get from my attempt.

12 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Munich
1 lb Cara-Pils
1 lb Crystal 20
2 lb Clover Honey (Costco) 45 minutes
1 lb Clover Honey 10 minutes
1 lb Clover Honey 0 minutes

1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf 60 minutes
1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf 45 minutes
1 oz Columbus Pellet 30 minutes
1 oz Simcoe Pellet 10 minutes
1 oz Simcoe Pellet 0 minutes
1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf Dry Hop

Wyeast 1056 (I wanted to use 1272 but it wasn't available).

I brewed this at the end of Feb, so it was in the secondary for a while. I fermented at a low temp - in the 60-65 degree range. I read a lot of different stuff about using honey, so this was somewhat experimental. I think it turned out great.

Karl Hungus (nihilist)
 
Bell's Hops Slam Clone....90% pale male, 10% cara-pils and 15% light honey (of total fermentables)...hops 50% each Simcoe and Columbus and Simcoe to dry hops about 20% of hops total day hops. Bell's special yeast???????? I've cloned this before w/ good results.
 
just wondering if anyone has come up with a clone for this one yet? $20 a sixer, but well worth it in my book.
 
ArcaneXor said:
It's worth every penny, dude!
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Hardly, IMHO.

The most expensive part of that beer is the same as any of Larry Bell's other beers...the cost of the building, equipment, label machines, labels, etc.

$16 a six pack is a gouging, pure and simple. Ask any professional brewer; when hop prices jumped, the cost of brewing a pint of IPA went up just slightly. Especially true for big brewers like Larry Bell, who buy hop futures at big discounts compared to the retail prices we pay.

Bells has great beers, don't get me wrong, but the pricing on Hopslam is silly.
 
Karl Hungus said:
Here was my attempt. I just kegged it yesterday and it is in all modesty, quite good. It is definitely a full-strength double IPA. The honey flavor is subtle and gives it a "smoothness". Definitely bitter, but balanced enough with all that honey... I don't think I can find Hopslam anymore to really compare. I do remember a grapefruit-like aroma that I didn't quite get from my attempt.

12 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Munich
1 lb Cara-Pils
1 lb Crystal 20
2 lb Clover Honey (Costco) 45 minutes
1 lb Clover Honey 10 minutes
1 lb Clover Honey 0 minutes

1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf 60 minutes
1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf 45 minutes
1 oz Columbus Pellet 30 minutes
1 oz Simcoe Pellet 10 minutes
1 oz Simcoe Pellet 0 minutes
1 oz Pacific Gem Leaf Dry Hop

Wyeast 1056 (I wanted to use 1272 but it wasn't available).

I brewed this at the end of Feb, so it was in the secondary for a while. I fermented at a low temp - in the 60-65 degree range. I read a lot of different stuff about using honey, so this was somewhat experimental. I think it turned out great.

Karl Hungus (nihilist)
Click to expand...


Have you made this yet?
 
I had Hopslam on tap this past weekend for the first time. Loved it! Would definitely be interested in a reasonable recipe as well.
 
why would you waste your money cloning something that IMHO is not that great?? :drunk:
 
I was excited to see this thread! Just tonight I was looking at the clone recipe on brew365 for this. I don't think I'll go with it but I'm sure this will make a good beer anyway. I just bought the 6 pack of it the other day, but haven't busted one out yet. Maybe tomorrow... Anyway, good luck on whatever you go with!~
 
I'll be racking my extract attempt to secondary today. I'll post up here after I see how it's coming along.

Grains were one lb. 2-row, and a 1/2 lb. C20 and honey malt. Nine lbs. X-light DME and then once ferm. started to slow 1.5lbs. Clover honey. When my brother-in-law and I had it the day it came out at the Eccentric Cafe we both thought that the hops reminded us of my WPA, so I bittered with Warrior and Columbus and finished with a lot of Amarillo and Simcoe. Including the dry hop I'll use 12 1/4 oz. of hops for five gallons. I used Nottingham because I haven't tried to harvest their yeast yet and have the most sucess cloning Two-Hearted with this yeast. This is the most expensive batch I've made. I figure somewhere around $75 with dern near half of the cost tied up in hops.
 
Just finished cleaning up and I'm sipping the hydro sample right now at room temp. Straight up grapefruit nose, medium-full mouthfeel. Plenty of bitterness but not quite enough to deny the honey. Little discernable alcohol taste, but it definately warms the throat and chest. Still some yeast flavor. Color is a near match, deep gold/orangeAll of the aspects of HS are there.:rockin: It'll be another six weeks or so before it's finished. I only plan on two weeks in secondary with the second one on hops to help get the maximum hoppiness to the glass. Then it's off to bottles and some afternoon quaffing while I watch the hops grow.

BTW, the notty did it's job. I double pitched and rehydrated, first time fitting a blowoff. Temp. strip on the side was kept between 64 and 66 until the krausen had dropped, then up to room temp of 68. It had cleared and darkened about four days ago and gravity at racking was 1.016. Today was exactly two weeks in primary. Beercalculus had predicted 1.021. It'll be a little stronger than the original but not far enough off to matter.:mug:
 
That is a great beer!!! I like everything I have had from Bells. Great brewery would love to visit it some day for the tour!
 
Three months in the bottle and it's FINALLY carbonated. I've kept it in the high 60's-70 but up until last week all I got when I sampled were semi-flat honey bombs. It's finally rounding out into something somewhat drinkable, but at this point not something I'd call a Hopslam clone. Still a little hot and green tasting. I've moved a case to a friend's basement for long-term tasting and the rest are here so that I can pull one out from time to time. I'll try to keep the progress updated.
 
cuinrearview said:
Three months in the bottle and it's FINALLY carbonated. I've kept it in the high 60's-70 but up until last week all I got when I sampled were semi-flat honey bombs. It's finally rounding out into something somewhat drinkable, but at this point not something I'd call a Hopslam clone. Still a little hot and green tasting. I've moved a case to a friend's basement for long-term tasting and the rest are here so that I can pull one out from time to time. I'll try to keep the progress updated.
Click to expand...

So how did those turn out??
 
drayman86 said:
Hardly, IMHO.

$16 a six pack is a gouging, pure and simple.

Bells has great beers, don't get me wrong, but the pricing on Hopslam is silly.
Click to expand...

Let's look at IIPAs by cost per ounce:

Hopslam $16 per 72 ounces (12oz x 6 bottles) = $0.22 per ounce

Compare:
DFH 90 min $10 per 48 oz (12 oz x 4 bottles) = $0.21 per oz
Stone Ruination $15 per 72 oz = $0.21 per oz
Three Floyds Dreadnaught $8.50 per 22 oz = $0.39 per oz


Gouging? The math says otherwise. Looks to me like the pricing is right where it should be.
 
i bought 2 6 backs this season

1 was 20.99 even after tax

the other 22 even after tax'

now its sold out at every store here

and im sipping one of my last 5
 
Went to a Bell's event yesterday afternoon in Jacksonville, FL where Hopslam was a feature on draft. $7/pint is way expensive IMHO for a pint of anything in Jax. BUT, it sure was tasty and I have never seen it on draft here in FL, so no regrets.

I actually came away with a Bell's prize pack from a raffle: 2 double cream stouts, 2 hopslams, Expedition stout, a Bell's pint glass and keychain. Not a bad little afternoon!
 
Seen the thread and had to chime in. This seaon my neighbor and I decided to stock up on Hop Slam for the year. We typically stock up on seasonals. For example: This fall between the two of us we stocked up on 8 cases and several mini kegs of Oberon to make it through the winter. :tank:

We called around and most of the local specialty beer stores were only issued 2 cases each in our area. Luckily, we have a Meijer (yes this is not a typo I said Meijer) that has a spectacular craft beer department. A little over a month ago, when Bell's released Hop Slam for distribution, I called Meijer and they were slated to get 10 cases and 10 mini kegs from their distributer. My neighbor and I were at the store the day it was received. It was $16.49 per six pack and $34.95 per mini keg.

I'm embarrased to say that between my neighbor and I we purchased 4 cases and 4 mini kegs :drunk:. (Over $400 worth :eek:) In the next couple of weeks we are going to have a big outdoor winter fest in our neighborhood and we are calling it "Hop Slamma Jamma!".
 
I am just now tasting hopslam for the first time, and I will say this beer is good, really, really good. I paid $16 for a six pack here in North Dakota, I am assuming that the beer didn't sell well and is fairly old as the hop aroma is fairly restrained. However, the flavor is very nice and the %10 ABV is really hidden well, as this beer is tasty and smooth. I wouldn't even call it overly bitter. My palate tells me the beer is very dry, like 1.015 or less and I don't detect centennial in this at all. Centennial is a very sharp and distinct taste. I would guess simcoe, amarillo and chinook. Yeast is very neutral, I wouldn't worry about their strain, WLP001 would be good but I would choose WLP007. Too be honest I don't think I can pick the honey out either, so sugar would work just fine IMO. Here is what I would do

17 pounds two row
1 pound C40
1 pound sugar/hone
1 oz chinook at 60
1 oz simcoe at 20
1 oz amarillo at 20
1 oz simcoe at 5
1 oz amarillo at 5
1 oz simcoe dry hop
1 oz amarillo dry hop
mash at 150
WLP007 at 64 degrees
 
This sounds a bit beer snobbish, but if HopSlam is over a month old, I'd just as soon get another cheaper DIPA. That stuff fades really fast. When it's fresh it's otherworldy, but after some time in the bottle it really loses its magic.
 
I love HS, and had to buy a 6er since it was the last one at the store and thought it'd be good to celebrate a golden birthday. I'd love to hear how people's clones turn out; I'm doing a rather large IPA as we speak that I'm throwing some honey in as a tribute to HS. I guess I'll see how it is in about 7 weeks (that seems way too far out!)
 
Just tried this beer for the first time here in VA. It was $22 a six-pack, limit one per customer. I have to tell you, that sounds expensive, but it was well worth every penny! I would love to be able to clone this sucker, or to even come close for that matter. They do leave some clues on their website..

"Starting with six different hop varietals added to the brew kettle & culminating with a massive dry-hop addition of Simcoe hops, Bell's Hopslam Ale possesses the most complex hopping schedule in the Bell's repertoire. Selected specifically because of their aromatic qualities, these Pacific Northwest varieties contribute a pungent blend of grapefruit, stone fruit, and floral notes. A generous malt bill and a solid dollop of honey provide just enough body to keep the balance in check, resulting in a remarkably drinkable rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style."

I'm fairly new to this whole thing, but if some of you other hop-heads want to try to crack this code, I say, let's figure it out!
 

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