Hoppy Face Amber Ale

Hoppy Brewing Co.
Sacramento, CA

Despite the “amber ale” in the name, this is a West Coast-style IPA.

ABV: 6.1
ABW: 4.9
Color: deep amber
Bitterness: n/a
Original gravity: n/a

Definitely a West Coast amber ale with a vibrant label and equally vivacious hop profile, this is more like an IPA in bitterness than the typical amber. Hoppy Face Amber pours eponymously in color and leaves creamy bits of lace along the side of the glass. Bottom line: If you seek pure hoppiness, Hoppy Face Amber is worth the quest.
- Lisa Morrison

As beer names go, this one is certainly descriptive. Inside the big, bright bottle lurks a chunky amber beer with a generous hop delivery. Indeed, everything you’d expect is there, from the decent malt foundation to the juicy, lemon and grapefruit notes of the hops, and it’s not too full-bodied either. Now, here’s the $64,000 question: could I drink lots of this beer? Answer: I don’t think so. Those hops are too generous at times, leaving a challenging hoppy burn and becoming just a touch cloying. Not a bad beer by any means, but not quite drinkable enough for my liking.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
Morisson, aka the Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff Evans
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.

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