Another very limited release from the folks that started this whole canning craze. This American Strong Ale is brewed using hops grown by the brewery. This is "Part Duh" in the HGH series and we believe that "Part One" was just a limited draught release. Big thanks to Mike out in Colorado for grabbing some of these at the brewery and sending us a can of this limited release from Oskar Blues! Cheers!

From the Oskar Blues site:

"HGH (Home Grown Hops) is an 8% ABV and 70 IBU Strong Ale juiced with hops locally grown at Oskar Blues Hops & Heifers Farm. Our home grown, high-potency, home run hitter is dry-hopped with Amarillo hops and then finished with a dose of Nugget and Centennial dry hopping. This farm raised strong ale injects more HGH than the 1998 home run race."

Here we go...

Pour - coming out of the can HGH is slightly viscous and fills the glass a bright orange and ruby-eqsue red color. Great looking, foamy off-white head that leaves some wonderful lacing. Who doesn't like lacing?

Aroma - first whiff and out comes cotton candy, burnt sugar, mango, passion fruit, mandarin oranges, sweet tea and hints of lemons and lime. Lots of aroma packed into this little can.

Taste - wow. Grapefruit and mango all over the place! This has some very strong tropical fruit notes with a nice malty sweet backbone that doesn't smother those delicate flavors. Certainly not an overly bitter brew, this has so much going on that I didn't expect. I'm loving all the tropical notes in this very unique brew!

Overall - awesome job creating something altogether delicious and flavorful and not just high in ABV and IBUs. This may pack a punch but you don't notice it and its cerainly not going to leave you're tongue all dried out. Well balanced, unique in character and just plain enjoyable. Wish we had a lot more of these!

Note - Oskar Blues is doing something pretty damn cool with their "Hops and Heifers" farm. 

"The Oskar Blues Hops and Heifers 50 acre farm has been reborn by Dale Katechis and Geoff Hess in an area just outside of our home in Longmont, CO. Hosting views of the Boulder’s Flatirons and Haystack Mountain the farm is just down the road from Oskar Blues Brewery and Home Made Liquids & Solids restaurant. The area was homesteaded in the 1860s by the Arbuthnot family & has largely been used as a dairy farm and ranch. The farm currently grazes 100% Oskar Blues raised Black Angus cattle that are part of the sustainable model at the Hops & Heifers farm. In addition, The ranch hosts 3,500 hop plants across 2 acres. The hopyard menu includes Centennial, Columbus, Nugget, Chinook, Willamette, Mt.Hood, Cascade and Sterling."