Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA (Accompanied by Ruminations from a Hopeless Glassware Addict)

Rogue 7 Hop IPA. Preceded with an indulgent ramble.

It is a fact. I am obsessed with collecting beer glasses, in every shape, size and style. It's a mania I need to control, for it's impossible to satisfy these desires. Do I have space to save and store them all? No, sir. Do I need them all? Of course not. And yet, here I am about to a Rogue beer, and find that I don't have a Rogue glass to pour it into for the photograph, and that bothers me. Of course, I used to own one or two, but they break, it's inevitable. While washing the dishes, knocked over my clumsy self or one of my curious cats, a casualty of a move….it's just gonna happen.

I've got pint glasses in the collection for breweries I've never been to, and might never sample again, if I ever did. Do I need them? Probably not. There might be a culling coming up, an eBay sell-off, to tighten the old collection up and make it more manageable. And yet, I still have to steer myself away from the insanity of collecting. If I see a Roque glass for sale, will I buy it so I don't face this "problem" again, or will be reasonable and say, "No, after all, how often do I drink Rogue, anyway, and isn't this enough, at long last, isn't it enough???"

On to the beer:Rogue Farms. Grow the Revolution. 7 Hop IPA. India Pale Ale brewed with Seven Varieties of Rogue Farms Hops. 8.0% ABV. 90 IBU.

Lightly hazed, bright amber coloration, under a slim white head. Perfect look for an IPA, right on the money.

Aroma: Ah, that's it. Bright, bold, lively citrus-y hop presence. Piney. Beautifully bitter.

Taste: Bracingly bitter hop attack is the first pounce on the palate, lingerly long. Too much for some, I'd bet, but it's right up my alley. Or, "in my wheelhouse", as some say. I spend more time in alleys than in wheelhouses, so that's where I head.
Juicy, juicy stuff, an utter delight on the tongue.

Medium-bodied, happily hoppy, with a modicum of malt to keep it balanced. My kind of double IPA.

Hey, what's it say on the label? "Dedicated to Farmers and Fermenters. In a bold collaboration with Mother Nature, we grow 7 varieties of aroma hops at Rogue Farms in Independence, OR. We also string, stake, train, test, trim, separate, sort, kiln and cool them. Brewmaster John Maier had 7 varieties available, but rather than picking from among them, he chose to use all 7 to create a proprietary palate for 7 Hop IPA.

I can't remember how much I paid for this, but it couldn't have been too much (under $10?), because I usually pass on the high-end Rogue stuff. While this one is good, it isn't $20 good.