Deschutes Hop Trip

Most people are pulling an imperial stout or winter warmer out of their fridge the week before Christmas, but I felt like something a little lighter this afternoon while watching some bowl games. I didn't think I was going to be able to find this around me easily but I happened to be down in Costa Mesa a few days ago and was able to get a bottle of Deschutes Hop Trip. The only other fresh hop beer I've had was Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale which is in my opinion the best beer they make.

Hop Trip poured my favorite color for a pale ale- a burnt orange-red. Pretty weak head, even though I tried my best get a good one on it. The smell was pretty subtle, I guess I'm getting way too used to aggressive IPA's. However there was a lot of citrusy hop apparent in the aroma, along with biscuity malt. The taste started out with some pine but was mainly citrus, and juicy. I would go as far to describe this as Alpha King Jr. Definitely nowhere near the hoppiness or bitterness of Alpha King, but with the same juicy flavor- only toned down quite a bit. This was a pretty easy drinking pale ale, reminding me how it's nice to take a break from any of the copious amounts of big aggressive beers taking over right now. 4.4 on BA from me.

And just for verification, poured sister a taster of it and her reply was "ohhhh, that's goooood.. smoooooooth"