Tupper's Hop Pocket

[rightwingnut]

Janx...you spoke well of this brew, as do I now that I bought a six-pack. Very good...

 

[SwAMi75]

I've been grabbing a sixer of Tupper's every once in a while, too. Nice when you're in the mood for something hoppy! Also, it says on the bottle that 50% of the proceeds go to charity....what charity I can't recall at the moment.

 

[Dude]

I've been grabbing a sixer of Tupper's every once in a while, too. Nice when you're in the mood for something hoppy! Also, it says on the bottle that 50% of the proceeds go to charity....what charity I can't recall at the moment.

That's brewed here in Virginia.
I picked some up today to see what its all about. I'd like to get more of an idea of what other's tastes are--rightwing and I had different thoughts on the Anchor and Yeungling porters, so it'll be interesting to see what he thinks of my brown ale and what I think of the Tupper's.

Other ones I bought to try tonight--Old Leghumper Robust Porter, Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Ale, Morland Brewing Hen's Tooth, and then I'll finish off with some more Anchor Liberty. I'll provide personal reviews on all, as usual!

 

[OSUmoney83]

You should thourougly enjoy the old leghumper, I had some a a couple months ago and it blew me away. Only problem I had was that the head dissipated too quickly, no matter how I poured. Let me know if you had this problem as well.

 

[Dude]

You should thourougly enjoy the old leghumper, I had some a a couple months ago and it blew me away. Only problem I had was that the head dissipated too quickly, no matter how I poured. Let me know if you had this problem as well.

1. Old Leghumper: Best beer I've had so far today (4th one). Very similar to Anchor Porter, IMHO. Better than Yeungling Porter (sorry rightwing! ) as well. It didn't keep a head long at all, but I'm positive my glass wasn't "beer clean" at that point.
2. Great Lakes Christmas Ale: Truly did not like this one. It had an aroma of dog food, I'm not kidding. It tasted different, didn't know if it was the spices it was brewed with or what. I actually dumped half of it out. I'm hoping it was old. Beer should not smell like Purina.
3. Hen's Tooth: Good one. Way sweeter than I was expecting. Might be something wrong with my palate, or a "only in my head thing", but I taste something funny with these exported beers. I can't describe it. Hens' Tooth has it, Old Speckled Hen has it, and Newcastle from the bottles has it. It doesn't make it undrinkable, just odd.
4. Tuppers: Damn good beer. I can see drinking this while BBQing out in the backyard this summer. I'm glad the liquor store on base sells this. I'll be drinking this again for sure.

Now on to some more Anchor products.....

 

[rightwingnut]

Anchor Liberty is awesome, and I think their Steam is my favorite beer as of now. The porter just didn't do it for me...I'll try it again sometime to make sure it wasn't an off-batch. Anchor Liberty, Tupper's Hop Pocket, and Sierra Pale....I'm in hop heaven! How would you compare those three? SN has always been my favorite...but the Anchor was damn good...

 

[SwAMi75]

Orr, you suck! I'm between night shifts, so no beer for me! Where are you getting your Anchor beers? Just buying singles at World Market, or does someplace around here carry sixers? The Class VI never seems to have any of their stuff.

Anchor Liberty, Tupper's Hop Pocket, and Sierra Pale....I'm in hop heaven! How would you compare those three? SN has always been my favorite...but the Anchor was damn good...

I've never had the Libery, but I find SN to be a little more "floral" than Hop Pocket, but HP being true to it's name, is hoppier! I think SN has a very broad appeal for a somewhat specialty beer. HP probably wouldn't appeal to your average Bud drinker.

 

[rightwingnut]

Oh, no way a loyal Bud drinker would go for Hop Pocket...and I can see what you mean about SN being more floral and HP being hoppier, for sure. I think I prefer the floral...but their all awesome.

 

[Janx]

Working from memory, Tupper's is way more bitter, higher IBUs, more flavor and aroma hops than SNPA. Tupper's is really more of an IPA than an APA if memory serves.

Liberty has always been in its own world. It was around before the big boom of IPAs. Now everyone has a heavily hopped beer, but most don't taste like Liberty. I remember tasting Liberty 10 or more years ago and it was one of the first American floral, hoppy beers I had had at that point. I'd say it's more in the range of IPA in terms of bitterness and aroma as well. It's really got a lot of finish/dry hops.

 

[SwAMi75]

Sounds like I need to get ahold of some liberty. I'm after a really good IPA, but think I want the American style, with a more floral character.

What is it that gives the American style that more floral character over the traditional IPA's? I'm trying to get a recipe together for an IPA, so I could use some ideas.

 

[rightwingnut]

Cascade. As far as I know, anyway....

 

[SwAMi75]

Cool thanks. I'll post in the "recipes" forum once I start pulling it together, to keep this thread on topic!

 

[Janx]

Lots of hops can give a floral finish. Cascade is a good one. Amarillo, Centennial are others. There are lots of good ones.

The American IPAs are usually really excessively hopped. They have a clean yeast character like an APA, but a freakin ton of hops. Bittering hops, dry hops, flavor hops. I'd get some Columbus for bittering and Cascade for finish. Use lots of Cascade towards the end of the boil

 

[Dude]

Orr, you suck! I'm between night shifts, so no beer for me! Where are you getting your Anchor beers? Just buying singles at World Market, or does someplace around here carry sixers? The Class VI never seems to have any of their stuff.

Sam, I got the Anchor Porter (individual only) at World Market, but the Farm Fresh over on Bethel (by the AMC theater) is where I get the rest of the Anchor stuff. They have sixers of Steam and Liberty. I'm sure most Farm Fresh selections are similar, but I don't know.
Those are both great beers, and two of my all time faves. Very drinkable--meaning not too heavy and something you could drink all night.

Anchor Liberty is awesome, and I think their Steam is my favorite beer as of now. The porter just didn't do it for me...I'll try it again sometime to make sure it wasn't an off-batch. Anchor Liberty, Tupper's Hop Pocket, and Sierra Pale....I'm in hop heaven! How would you compare those three? SN has always been my favorite...but the Anchor was damn good...

Rightwing, I'd go Anchor Liberty, Sierra Pale, and Tupper in that order, but Tupper being #3 certainly doesn't take anything away from the fact that its a great beer.
Did you try the Brown yet? I can't wait for your critique. I won't be upset if you didn't like it--I realize all tastes are different. I tried to improve on the latest batch of brown ale I did by boiling some bittering hops longer, as I thought that first batch could have been hoppier. Once I transfer this latest to secondary I'm gonna dry-hop for the first time as well. So what'd ya think?

 

[rightwingnut]

Sorry, man, I didn't get to it yet...I kept forgetting it at home, and I spend most of my time (and all of my drinking) at my girlfriend's house. Will try it this week. Sending mine tomorrow...I procrastinated and the post office was closed...Pulled the stout out of the fridge to age more...I wonder if the fact that it was chilled will screw up the aging...it was ice cold when it arrived, anyway....

 

[OSUmoney83]

Sounds like I need to get ahold of some liberty. I'm after a really good IPA, but think I want the American style, with a more floral character.

What is it that gives the American style that more floral character over the traditional IPA's? I'm trying to get a recipe together for an IPA, so I could use some ideas.

If you can get a hold on some Great Lakes Burning River APA do it, that seems to fit the description of what your looking for

 

[rightwingnut]

Ok, Orr, tried your brown ale. Honestly, it was OK. At first sip, the finish had a tangy bitterness I didn't like, but it got better. It's got that same basic taste that mine have that I don't like much....I guess it's an extract thing. Drinkable, but not great. I'll probably like the stout better, as I like my porter better. We'll see.

 

[Dude]

Ok, Orr, tried your brown ale. Honestly, it was OK. At first sip, the finish had a tangy bitterness I didn't like, but it got better. It's got that same basic taste that mine have that I don't like much....I guess it's an extract thing. Drinkable, but not great. I'll probably like the stout better, as I like my porter better. We'll see.

Hmmm....I find it extremely drinkable and it was everything I wanted when I started this hobby. I'm tweaking that recipe in a batch right now--with plans to make that a regular house brew. As I said before--I think it could have been hoppier.

As for that stout--I'm not holding out much hope. I thought it was way too sweet for my tastes. We'll see how it ages.

 

[rightwingnut]

Yeah, hey, maybe I was off...it usually takes me a beer or two to like a new beer...they always taste funny at first...Or maybe I have horrible taste in beer...or maybe you do... Mine aren't too great...you'll have a chance to rag on them soon.

 

[Dude]

Okay rightwing....Sam and I tried your brews the other night....

The Porter was great. Extremely drinkable. It reminded me very much of Yeunglings Porter, so good job! You got great color on that porter too, something I wasn't able to do as well with my stout....
The other one--I thought was really sweet, and I guess I wasn't expecting that. I tasted brown sugar, did you prime with that or something? Interesting if you did. I couldn't narrow down what type it was--maybe a mild APA or a Brown? If you told me what they were, I'm sorry, I couldn't remember. I would have like it better without the sweetness but if that's what you were going for, cool...which one was your first batch?

Sam had one of my brown ales and he said he thought it tasted grainy...I'm not sure what that meant....

I wish we all lived closer so we could sample more often. Sending 2 beers to each other is like buying an expensive 6 pack!!! Gets pricey for 2 beers!

Anyway...thanks for the samples....this hobby is really cool....

 

[rightwingnut]

The "other" was my second batch, porter was third. I don't know what it was...I called it a "bitter", but I really didn't follow a recipe. I can see the sweetness...I don't love it myself. For the porter I steeped chocolate malt, and I like the taste it imparted. I gotta start following recipes until I get good enough to wing it. Thanks for the feedback. I'll send you a bottle of my blueberry mead if you want, although it's still fermenting after a month and a half!

 

[SwAMi75]

The first had an awesome hop character to it, but to me it was sticky-sweet. What did you put in there to make it so sweet? Back off on that and to my taste, you've got one helluva great beer there.

The porter was excellent. One of the most oily-black beers I've ever seen. I'm guessing you used a little malto dextrin in it? It sure did have a thick mouthfeel to it. I certianly enjoyed it!

I've got a porter going right now, but it's quite a bit different than yours. Higher gravity and not as dark. I don't think mine will be nearly as representative of the style as yours was.

Since I've sampled and critiqued some of yours, I'm willing to send you some of my Old Speckled Hen clone to try. I've got a couple others as well, but they need more time in the bottle. If interested, lemme know and I'll get your info from orrelse and get you some in the mail.

Sam

 

[rightwingnut]

The first had an awesome hop character to it, but to me it was sticky-sweet. What did you put in there to make it so sweet? Back off on that and to my taste, you've got one helluva great beer there.

The porter was excellent. One of the most oily-black beers I've ever seen. I'm guessing you used a little malto dextrin in it? It sure did have a thick mouthfeel to it. I certianly enjoyed it!

I've got a porter going right now, but it's quite a bit different than yours. Higher gravity and not as dark. I don't think mine will be nearly as representative of the style as yours was.

Since I've sampled and critiqued some of yours, I'm willing to send you some of my Old Speckled Hen clone to try. I've got a couple others as well, but they need more time in the bottle. If interested, lemme know and I'll get your info from orrelse and get you some in the mail.

Sam

Thanks much, man, I'm flattered! I don't know why the first was so sweet...maybe it didn't ferment out fully...I'll have to go back and check my log. The porter had no dextrin. Just chocolate malt, LME (I ordered wrong or they sent wrong, 'cause I wanted DME), whole hops and English or British Whitelabs. I just kinda guessed at ingredients after browsing some online recipies. I'd love to sample yours, and I'll send you more porter if you want. It's all I've got bottled now, and I'm the only one who drinks it, so there's a lot left. PM me if you're interested.