Hoparazzi India Pale Lager

Hoparazzi India Pale Lager is brewed by the Parallel 49 Brewing Company in Vancouver, British Columbia. I had a couple of bottles as part of a variety six-pack (stay tuned for the other two varieties). The 341mL bottle features a camera-wielding dude in a hop-patterned shirt. It contains 5.5% alcohol. It's a modestly hazy brew, slightly reddish gold in colour, and topped with a thick off-white head.

Hoparrazi has a pretty fair imitation of the malty caramel and bitter hops aroma of an I.P.A. The underlying pale lager seems to be a hop platform--it's crisp, but doesn't contribute much to the flavour. The bulk of the flavour is focused on delivering a bitter, resinous hp charge. The beer starts sweet, but veers bitter-ward quickly.

I was pretty skeptical at the outset, but this brew proved to be an interesting and enjoyable concoction. It's not something that I'd reach for regularly, but a cool once-in-a-while bottle. If I were going to hop up a lager, I'd probably try to invoke citrus notes. Parallel 49 opted for a more resin-based hop, a choice that yielded respectable results. I'd love to know what the IBU count is for this stuff.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.