Beer Profile: Hoptimus Prime, Ruckus Brewing

Profiled by Ken Carman

I was hoping for an explosive hop pop for the 4th. This one fizzled in two way: taste and I had to shift the publish date.

The man at Midtown Liquors in Nashville told me this was the hoppiest of two new beers. I kind of wish now I’d chosen the other. Oh, I suppose he was right… as far as I know, but Ruckus can do better than this.

Typical medium gold with nice head and clarity. Mouthfeel is typical bitter cling to the palate and carbonation.

Cascade-ish nose: grapefruit. Not much malt in the nose: almost none and indistinguishable.

Malt about right to the taste for style, but neither hops or malt unique in any sense. I think when Double IPAS were rare this might have done better. The hops are the star by far, but not all that interesting lost in an ocean’s worth of IPAS these days. Mostly bitter. I suspect dry hopping and late additions were lacking in the brew process at this Wilkes-Barre, PA brewery. All that, and maybe a little more complex malt bill, might make this bugger stand out.

Complexity: needs more. That’s the problem.

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