Langley Loop – Hoppy Tonk Fresh Hop Golden Ale

Langley Loop – Hoppy Tonk Fresh Hop Golden Ale Review

Fans of fresh hop beers know that the Number One consideration for consumption is timeliness. You don’t store a wet hop beer, typically brewed in early Fall, and wait to open it until the following Spring. But what if the beer is still on sale during said Spring?

The BeerSeekers are here to be your personal food tasters and save you from potential hop harm, in this case in the form of a late-to-the-party beer review promted by the discovery of a mature yet surprisingly tasty Fraser Valley brew.

As advertised right on the can: Farm Country Brewing and closely located friends in the Langley brewing district (Trading Post, Camp Beer Co. and Five Roads) have “got the band back together” to bring you another collab creation, a fresh-hopped North American Golden Ale called Hoppy Tonk.

Fresh tahoma hops, flash frozen with liquid N2, smashed then tossed in the fermenter. The freezing process promts us to invoke the term ‘hopsicle’ for the first time. Mmmm….hopsicles.

A little research shows that Tahoma is an aroma hop typicaly used late in boil or for dry-hopping. Turns out that it makes all the difference in this brew.

To our nose, there’s a funky aroma reminiscent of boiled tea, perhaps Earl Grey variety.

On the palate, it’s fairly astringent, with a palate-coating experience in the finish consistent with the tea aroma. At the same time, it’s clean and dry (as in fully attenuated, no malt sugars), yet it’s juicy (as in from the malt). There’s a sweetness in the finish, not from sugars so much as a fruity hop note. Also, a resonant woody hop flourish.

We wish we caught this one fresh off the pickup truck. But we’d drink it again in a country heartbeat.