Wormtown Buddha's Juice

The Stats
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.5%
Current Ratings...
- Untappd: 4.01/5
- Beer Advocate: 4.12/5
- RateBeer: 3.77/5

"We selected the rare Buddha’s hand, a variety of citron with long fingers and no fruit inside, along with grapefruit peel at the end of the boil to reinforce the citrus qualities of our American hops. Intense zest and flavorful but not bitter pith contribute to the juicy hop profile of this unique brew."

Pours to a rusty orange appearance and a finger of white head.

Deep, resinous hops on the aroma give way to mild potpourri and perfume. Heavily acidic grapefruit with spicy hop oils and resins will clear your sinuses.

That big bite of acidity is dialed down a notch on the taste and it leaves a sweet citrus flavor. Oranges and tangerines come to mind first, but plenty of that fresh grapefruit is still here. While some aspects of the aroma stepped aside, that big, resinous, syrupy factor is taking shape and just engulfing my palate. I'm not sure of the hop profile, but there's a seismic spice quality to this that can't be ignored and it was clearly aimed to work off the hop oils and resins. The back end does let up enough to let the aforementioned sweeter, citrus notes take over and help combat the resinous nature of the beer.

Mouthfeel is full with a thick, syrupy body. Some alcohol warming is noticeable with each sip and a little more carbonation would have helped move the body along.

Buddha's Juice is not your typical New England juice or hop nuke. This one comes storming out of the gate as a 9.5% Double IPA and never takes its foot off the gas. It's a massive IPA with a thick body and tons of spice and resin. It luckily has just enough citrus presence to help ease the intensity and assist with drinkability.

Rating
7.8/10

Wormtown Be Hoppiest

The Stats
Style: Imperial IPA/Triple IPA
ABV: 10.7%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.28/5
- Untappd: 4.12/5
- RateBeer: N/A

"Be Hoppiest Triple IPA is here. We originally created this recipe in honor of our 5th anniversary and the response was overwhelming. We add our hop forwarding process along with our mash hopping and double dry hop and hop back process to create our biggest IPA to date."

Pours a beautiful, hazy golden orange with a finger of white head.

The aroma is deeply resinous with sweet citrus. It has quite the hop bite on each whiff as it is just saturated with hops.

On the taste it is sweet up front with an emphasis on blood oranges, clementines, and peaches. In the middle of the mouth, some acidic grapefruit comes into play as does lemon peel. I can't explain it, but for some reason, I am getting a vanilla flavor to this. Maybe it is has to do with the sherbet and orange creme flavor, but this unexpected dessert feeling is more than welcome. The back end does a complete 180 as this turns real bitter, real fast. A dank, resinous hop flavor takes total control in the 2nd half with a dirty (in a good way), mossy, earthy flavor. At the same time, pure hop juice and citrus extract also chime in. It's a tale of two halves on this one, both both are superb.

Mouthfeel is thicker than most IPA's, but that's expected with 10.7%. Initially, the bitterness caught me off guard, but the more I drink, the more I got used to it. Hop heads will love it and the fruity, sweeter elements help with drinkability.

Be Hoppiest is my personal favorite out of all of the variations. It's a big bastard of a beer and is unapologetic about being so. The bitterness levels were off the charts, but at the same time, citrus-forward hops made the beer gentle on the palate. It's hard for a "Triple IPA" to retain high drinkability while smacking you in the face with hops and bitterness, but Wormtown has done it.

Rating
9.0/10

Wormtown Spies Like Us

The Stats
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.16/5
- RateBeer: 3.81/5

"The cold war may be over, but our Russian Imperial Stout is just getting started. Rich, roasted malts, gentle British hopping with earthy Fuggles hops help create just the right balance and character that this style is famed for. Our label pays tribute to our three secret agents; Tom, David, and Ben, who when they are not saving the world from nuclear war, are helping bring Wormtown to everyone who loves great beer."

Pours pitch black with ruby red on the edges and less than a finger of khaki-colored head.

Lots of roasted coffee and roasted malts on the nose. Hidden in the back are cherries, dark fruits, and a black licorice/anise aroma. It also has the smell of leather (not a bad thing).

Those cherries, plums, and raisins strike first a the front of my tongue. While a coffee flavor was strong on the aroma, I actually don't get it at all here as the dominant force of the taste reminds me more of an Old Ale with a molasses and wood character and there's even a good smokey flavor here too. There's an overall herbal/minty hop influence with small hints of spice all throughout and I'm surprised at such a big hop presence in a massive RIS. If I concentrate hard enough I can detect a small bit of rich, dark chocolate and maybe even some caramel.

Mouthfeel is soft, thick, and coats the tongue (phrasing!). I'm impressed by the lack of alcohol presence although there is a slight warming sensation on each sip. It's a sipper for sure.

There are so many flavored or barrel-aged stouts out there these days that it makes people forget that a standalone stout is also great if done well. Spies Like Us is big, bold, and flavorful, but without the added bells and whistles. I enjoyed mine in Summer, but this is something you'll want to snuggle up next to on a cold Winter's night.

Rating
9.0/10

Versus: Wormtown Be Hoppy & Wormtown Be Hoppier

The Stats
Wormtown Be Hoppy
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.25/5
- RateBeer: 3.67/5
Wormtown Be Hoppier
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.5%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.09/5
- RateBeer: 3.25/5 (weighted avg)

I love doing these face-offs. So, Be Hoppy is a Massachusetts darling beloved by all. Wormtown Brewery out of Worcester produces a wide array of styles, but their flagship IPA is their most popular. For me personally, I have a special relationship with this beer as it currently sits as my most checked-in beer on Untappd.

Clearly I have a love for this brew. So when I heard of an Imperial version of Be Hoppy, I knew it was a party I had to crash (because I'm not cool enough to get invited). I remember years ago when bombers of this stuff hit my local stores in small amounts, and to be quite honest, I do remember thinking that it wasn't special. Years have passed and maybe it will grown on me. What better way to see how it sizes up than to pit these two against each other in a fight to the death?

BREWER'S DESCRIPTION

 Wormtown Be Hoppy

"Be Hoppy is our take on the Left Coast IPA. The huge aromatics and big citrus forward flavors come from the copious amount of hops we use during our double dry hop and hop back processes. Let our IPA put a smile on your face Harvey Ball would be proud of. Have a Great Beer!"

Wormtown Be Hoppier 

"What do you do when our Be Hoppy IPA isn’t hoppy enough for you? Seek out its award winning bigger brother. We add mash hopping along with our double dry hop and hop back processes to  create a hop bomb of epic proportions."

APPEARANCE

Wormtown Be Hoppy

Pours dark yellow with a hazy body and a finger of bright white head

Wormtown Be Hoppier

Noticeably darker in appearance with a rusty orange body which is also mostly hazy and produced a finger of white head.

AROMA

Wormtown Be Hoppy

Smells more earthy than your usual New England IPA's. It has tons of wet grass and hints of tree bark and pine. There's just barely a touch of grapefruit hidden in the back. It also smells very clean.

Wormtown Be Hoppier

The hop oils and aromas are significantly stronger here. The tree bark aroma from Be Hoppy has turned into thick tree sap and there's a sweet malt aroma too. That grassy, earthy, wet moss is bigger and bolder and it has some candied orange too. Overall this is sweeter on the nose than its little brother with a bigger hop bite.

TASTE

Wormtown Be Hoppy

The flavors are all subtle, but there sure are a lot of them in this glass. The taste yields a fruitier presence than the aroma ever did as I get stronger grapefruit and splashes of mango and pineapple. Additionally there is a hoppy resin presence on the back with a little bit of that subtle pine from the aroma. Other hop varietals are lending some spicy notes and herbaceous qualities. It's actually more complex than I had anticipated, but also subdued enough to not overwhelm the palate.

Wormtown Be Hoppier

I don't want to be cliche, boring, and just sound like I'm half-assing this, but the best way to describe the taste is just to say it is a stronger version of the standard Be Hoppy. Everything from the base beer is here, but just in bigger numbers. I think the pine tree component is significantly bigger here than on the other, but the other flavors, while also bigger, aren't light years ahead of Be Hoppy. As with the aroma, it is dominated by herbal and grassy hops with the fruity notes being limited to some sweet, candied orange and a minor lemon zest quality. The hop intensity and resinous character are noticeable with a nice, little smack in the face on the initial sip, but you get used to it as you drink.

MOUTHFEEL

Wormtown Be Hoppy

Relatively calm feel with enough hoppy goodness left to stick to your tongue. The body is light-to-medium and its easy to drink despite the multitude of flavors.

Wormtown Be Hoppier

The body is slightly thicker, but not syrupy by any means. It isn't as easy to gulp down as Be Hoppy, but for a DIPA with such a large resinous flavor, it isn't that bad. As I said before, you get used to the intensity and sweetness.

OVERALL

In a lot of cases where a brewery makes a DIPA version of one of their best IPA's, usually the DIPA edition will win out. Now, I'm not saying I don't like Be Hoppier. I think it is a great beer packed with flavor a good drinkability. Is it THAT much of an improvement? I would personally say no. I prefer regular Be Hoppy because while the flavors aren't as intense as Be Hoppier, you still do get all of the same flavors as the DIPA which didn't amplify them to the cosmic level that I hoped they would. I also find Be Hoppy easier to drink and is something I would (actually I do) have in my fridge on a regular basis. Be Hoppier did show how you can enhance a base beer, but it didn't do it by much. The DIPA is still good, but when it comes to choosing between the two, I am taking Be Hoppy.

RATINGS

Wormtown Be Hoppy
8.5/10

Wormtown Be Hoppier
8.0/10

WINNER

Wormtown Blizzard of '78

The Stats
Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 6.0%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.1/5
- RateBeer: 2.93/5 (3 ratings)

"The storm by which all storms are measured. Our winter offering pays tribute to those who were there and those who have endured hearing about it over and over again. We created a classic English Style Brown Ale with fresh roasted coffee beans added from Acoustic Java to give Blizzard of ’78 a rich, smooth character that you will enjoy when hearing more stories of walking through 27 inches of snow, uphill, blah, blah, blah."

Pours a dark mahogany red with two fingers of an off-white, oatmeal-colored head.

There's a really nice coffee bean aroma with nuttiness and some British ale yeast. It smells inviting.

A tasty dark iced coffee flavor catches me first with some coffee ground bitterness up front. I'm also getting something similar to a smoky flavor which reminds me of a good porter. Beyond that is some of the aforementioned British yeast and then there's some toasted malts and a taste of multi-grain bread or Cheerios. On the back end and finish, flavors of raisins and figs come to life with a small dollop of the bitter coffee.

Mouthfeel is relatively calm with some noticeable carbonation, but overall it is smooth. There's no alcohol presence (not that I'd expect any) and there's no unpleasant lingering flavors to speak of.

In my experience there's not much you can do to make a Brown Ale exciting. While Blizzard of '78 isn't a panty dropper by any means, it is still a solid example with the coffee giving it an edge over other standard Brown Ales on the market. As memorable as the actual Blizzard of '78? No, but I'll still pick it up again next year.

Rating
8.3/10

Wormtown Hopulence

The Stats
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.50%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.17/5
- RateBeer: 3.84/5

With the recent opening of their new brewery and taproom, I'd figure now is a great time to review another Wormtown beer. Hopulence is a big Imperial IPA brewed with Amarillo, Horizon, Summit, and Glacier hops with each hop added (as they say) during "every conceivable part of the brewing process".

Pours a hazy, golden orange with two fingers of white, soapy head.

There's no big juice presence on this one. It is grassy hops with pine and sticky resin.

The taste reminds me a lot of Stone Imperial IPA's with an emphasis on garlic and onion and hop oils and resin. The difference being that this has a more palate-friendly addition of earthy hops reminiscent of fresh flowers and grass, but with tons more bitterness. It has a lot of that East Coast pine and spruce taste, but the finish comes back to the sticky hop resin.

This is a full-bodied Imperial IPA for sure, but luckily not syrupy, thick, or chewy. At 8.50% there is no alcohol presence and given it's abundance of hops and oils, this is actually drinking easily.

Hopulence came through on the bitterness for sure and it is clear they weren't lying when they boasted about the sheer amount of hops in this brew. While I would like my DIPA's to contain some presence of tropical juices, I'm not going to lodge any complaints with this easy-drinking resin and pine bomb.

Rating
8.3/10

Wormtown Norm

The Stats
Style: American Stout
ABV: 6.80%
Current Beer Advocate Rating: 4.22/5

Back in 2012, Wormtown Brewing  brewed and named a coconut stout after Boston beer blogger and author Norman Miller. "Norm" is an Oatmeal Stout brewed with cocoa nibs, 10 specialty malts, and a pound of toasted coconut per gallon.

Funny sidetrack story if I may. I first met Norman Miller back in June at Nigh Shift Brewing where he was signing copies of his latest book (which you can get here). I didn't put two and two together that he was Norm from "Norm". Then last month when my friend Ryan and I were on a visit to Jack's Abby for the Coco-Nut Framinghammer release, Norman Miller walked in and picked up his beers. Also at Jack's Abby was a copy of Norman Miller's book. I told Ryan that was Norman Miller, the author of that book. He then said he looked an awful lot like the guy on the bottle of Wormtown's Norm. Then we looked at each other in shock as we had the same exact epiphany at that exact moment. Yeah, nothing gets past us. Ok, onto the beer!

Pours pitch black like any good stout. I had to let the 3-4 finger, khaki head settle before I could fill up the rest of my glass.

This is the epitome of a "dessert beer". Roasted malts up front followed with a gush of chocolate and coconut. Combined, I also pick up a marshmallow flavor.

Liquid Almond Joy is all I need to say. The coconut and cocoa nibs assault your taste buds in a glorious way. It is incredibly sweet at the front of the tongue with those aforementioned chocolate and coconut flavors. On the finish it is all bitter, roasted malts. All sweet, awesome flavor aside, if I have to criticize anything, it is the semi-thin mouthfeel. Granted this isn't an imperial stout and by definition isn't as heavy, but it does take a small bite out of the body. That being said, it still is super robust and fluffy on the tongue.

No need for dessert because Wormtown Norm will satisfy any sweet tooth. Why more breweries don't try and make coconut stouts is a mystery to me as it has been a winning move in my experiences. All of the flavors promised are heavily present on the aroma and taste and they do not disappoint. If you melted an Almond Joy, I'm sure you'd get the same satisfaction. It's complex, tasty, and drinkable, which makes it a nearly perfect offering. While a slightly thin mouthfeel holds it back from perfection, don't you dare let that deter you from picking this up when available. As far as I know it is a Massachusetts-only release, and a limited release at that. Outside the Commonwealth it will require a trade and even inside it's hard to track down. If you do see it, grab it and hold it tighter than your true love. Pretty deep, right?

Rating
9.4/10