Fistful of Hops Summer Release

So we've officially had all of the seasons of Fistful of Hops by Sun King Brewing Company. As I've pointed out every season, Fistful is an IPA that keeps the same malt bill all year long, but rotates the hops that it showcases every season. You can check out the reviews for the other seasons:

Fistful of Hops Fall (red can)
Fistful of Hops Winter (blue can)
Fistful of Hops Spring (green can)

The summer Fistful of Hops uses azacca and mosaic hops. Now I had no idea what azacca hops were supposed to taste like, so I hit up Great Fermentations, the local homebrew store that I buy my ingredients from. They told me that azacca is a pretty new hop to the market. It has some big citrus flavors mixed with some piney and earthy undertones. It leaves you with a crisp and bitter finish. I think it was well paired with the big flavors of mosaic, one of my personal favorite hops.

This one has such a big aroma. You start smelling it as soon as the can opens. It smells like when you used to get fruit cocktail as a kid, with big tropical sweet aromas right from the start. This is one of the best smelling IPAs I've ever had. The beer pours out the same good looking golden yellow color that all the Fistful of Hops beers pour out. The flavor is light and crisp with some nice citrus fruit flavors up front and a clean bitter finish. The bitter finish is that resiny pine flavor that is probably coming from the azacca hops. Its a really nice easy drinking summer beer.

I'm not trying to be critical but the aroma was so amazing, I was a little disappointed when the flavor of the beer didn't live up to the hype in my nose. It is a great beer, and the flavors were really easy to drink in the summer heat, but its verging on too light for an IPA. I like the beer, its not my favorite Fistful release but it's a damn good beer, and its about as good as it gets for this kind of weather. I give it a 3.5/5

Now that I've reviewed and tasted all four of this year's fistful of hops, I really thought I'd be able to rank them. Keep in mind these have all been really good IPAs and with all the variety Sun King has done a great job of making sure there is something for everyone who likes a good IPA. I couldn't rank these because they were all so perfect for the season. I think Clay nailed it and really made something outstanding for each season they were released!!!