22 May Copperhead Feeding Frenzy by Tony

Copperhead Feeding Frenzy

Copperhead Brewery

Conroe

Northeast DIPA

ABV: 8%

IBUs: 99

Packaging: Draft, 32 oz. Crowlers, Cans coming soon-ish

Two of our authors, Nick and Sam, got the chance to try Copperhead Feeding Frenzy before the rest of the world. They had it before it was carbonated and spoke highly of it, but once it was gassed up and in crowlers, they each went again to grab a few.

That’s when they started texting the rest of us, like “OMG YALL! This stuff is better than Haze!” Never one to buy into the hype, I said I have to try it before I agree or disagree, but Haze is turning heads nationwide. To say that Feeding Frenzy makes Haze pale in comparison is a really bold statement.

Sooo, I met Sam to grab one of his growlers and see for myself.

Copperhead Feeding Frenzy’s artwork is orange and red, in the typical hyper-illustrative style Copperhead has become known for. The label features snakes wrapped around the trunk of a tree eating oranges, surrounded by floating green hops. That’s kind of how it looks in a glass too.

It pours like straight up canned orange juice, with fine chalk-white head that dissipates quickly. Copperhead Feeding Frenzy is hazy. It’s almost opaque. It doesn’t lace down the glass much, but there are some fine speckles reminiscent of the floating hops on the label art.

The nose of Copperhead Feeding Frenzy started the second I cracked the crowler open. It. Was. In. Tense. Bold, floral, citrus and tropical notes brushed from the can straight to my nose. Once I got it in the glass, those notes were emboldened. Oranges, pineapples, Grapefruits and mangos had a baby with a copperhead snake. That’s the nose.

The flavor of Copperhead Feeding Frenzy follows suit, but there’s a trend here – the further along the senses the beer moves, the bigger and bolder it gets!

It starts off smooth and pillowy, with a mild tropical bite and the tiniest most beautiful little bubbles almost stinging your tongue like thousands of little snakes. But like in a good way…

As it goes down, there’s a soft after taste of more Grapefruit, pineapple and tropical goodness followed by a long-lingering aftertaste. It’s a dangerously smooth 8% though. There’s a tiny alcohol note on the after taste as it warms up, but if you don’t nurse it, you could get carried away real easy here.

That super-subtle alcohol note is largely overshadowed by citrusy, tropical, beautiful, dripping-juiciness with a little bitterness for good measure.

I can’t lie, I thought Nick and Sam were being fanboys when they said this was better than Houston Haze. That’s a 5 star beer in my book, and that’s something we don’t hand out all Willy-Nilly. That said, I don’t think it’s totally a fair comparison, as this Feeding Frenzy is a double.

As they were hyping this beer up, I felt convicted – as if I needed to go bump down other beers to make room for this one. Not so. This Copperhead Feeding Frenzy is a five star beer for sure, but it doesn’t take anything away from the others.

Currently Copperhead Feeding Frenzy can only be found at the brewery and on tap at a few places around town, but something tells me there’ll be more of it soon, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember hearing something about bottles coming soon.

This beer is freaking terrific. Sam and Nick really built the hype for it, and they weren’t kidding. I still think Houston Haze is the forerunner for this category currently, but Copperhead Feeding Frenzy is a double, so it’s not truly a fair comparison.

So what’d you think of this hazy IPA? Beauty or beast, or both!? Let us know in the comments below. Beers to you, Houston.