Can’t go wrong with a beer that has a green rabbit bouncing across its label. Remember Crack'd Wheat from New Glarus? This is that beer rebranded. These days you gotta have something about hops on the label if you want it to sell.
In a nutshell, Hopster is a Bavarian-style Hefeweiss with a hop treatment that’s more like an American Pale Ale. You get the dense aromatics and esters of German Weissbier yeast threading into the pungent bite of American hops. In this case, Amarillo hops. It’s an odd coupling that works better than it probably should.
Hopster pours to a pale gold under a billowing, white head that’s sticky as gum. A burst of clove leads the aroma followed by spice notes that made me think of pumpkin-pie. Amazing what yeast can do. The hops are definitely in attendance with a lively, lemon-zest citrus scent, but if you’re looking for IPA style aromatics looks somewhere else.
The beer is medium bodied with a creaminess that’s very pleasing. There’s an almost sweet, breadiness to the malt flavor that provides a good cushion for the sharper phenolic flavors of the yeast and the bright, citrusy bitterness of the hops. I love that balance.
The beer ends with a clean bittering that makes for a surprisingly crisp finish when you consider all of the flavor that comes before it. Probably the best marriage of American hops with this kind of yeast profile I’ve tasted. A beer that’s especially fitting for this spring-like weather we’re having.
No mention of ABV on the label, but I’m guessing it’s on the high side of 5%. They’re selling sixers of Hopster at Festival Foods in Oshkosh for $7.99
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