Beer of the Week: Hop ‘Em Sock ‘Em

From the Beer Writer: I came into hoppy beers in an age where double IPAs seemed a tad unnecessary. At the time, most standard-strength West Coast IPAs had so much kettle-hop bitterness and pine-forest potency that there seemed little reason to add more alcohol and trub matter to the mix. One such “single” IPA that takes me right back to the mid-two-thousand-aughts is Hop ‘Em Sock ‘Em, a year-round offering from Miramar-based Duck Foot Brewing. Its bouquet is like that of a post-party college dorm room with a basket full of Satsumas and nectarines left forgotten and over-ripening in the corner. The mid-palate is peaches coated in rosemary caramel punctuated by grapefruit pith and classic Simcoe cattiness. The flavors are big, but lively carbonation helps wash them away nicely for subsequent sips. That and a lasting, tacky bitterness make for a pleasant trip down memory lane and a reminder that, while fruit-forward IPAs of all types are splendid, particularly when it comes to bringing new craft-beer fans into the fold, there’s something to be said for the all-around hoppy beers that made an earlier generation of beer fans want to bring people along for the ride in the first place.

From the Brewer: “Hop ‘Em Sock ‘Em is our year-round, classic West Coast IPA. It features one of my favorite hop combinations: Simcoe and Amarillo. This hoppy combo is so popular it is sometimes lovingly referred to as ‘SimArillo’. We recently retooled our use of these hops to focus even more attention on the wonderful aroma that they can generate. You can expect to find big grapefruit and orange notes with an underpinning of pine in the aroma. The flavor starts with the bright fruit, slides smoothly into piney, woody flavors, and then a clean bitterness balances against a hint of bready malt. The body is light and crisp with a bright finish leading you to want that next sip sooner rather than later. This is my go-to beer when I am relaxing after a long day of dragging hoses and shoveling spent grain. I hope you will find it just as delightful as I do!”—Matt Akin, Head Brewer, Duck Foot Brewing