herbipolis

The illustrious name Herbipolis is derived from the old name of the city of Würzburg. This is the adopted hometown of Chris Sullivan from Oregon and the hometown of his project SMaSH. SMaSH is the abbreviation for Single Malt and Single Hop and in practice means that Chris only uses one type of hop and one type of malt for his beers. In the colorful world of hop-intensive craft beers, this is a Herculean task that can only be achieved with a lot of expertise and craftsmanship.

Master brewer Chris is a professional across the board - you can taste it in his beers!

You can clearly see Chris's connection to his adopted homeland in the name and label of the beer. The beer bears the Latin title Herbipolis, which the city of Würzburg used to have, and there is a beautiful drawing of Marienberg Fortress on the label. But is there also Würzburg in the bottle?

Herbipolis flows into the glass in a slightly cloudy gold tone and forms an impressive head of foam. A fine mixture of hoppy and malty scents rises from the fine-pored, subtle beige foam. A touch of yeast starts off, the hops join in immediately and add the aroma of fresh citrus fruits and spicy pine resin. On the nose there is a note of sun-dried straw and a little green apple. The broad bouquet does not allow any conclusions to be drawn that there is only one type of hop in the beer! And the drink is also exciting and diverse. A nice malt sweetness with notes of grain forms the entrée, the hops follow on the heels and bring with them a wonderful tartness and the fresh taste of grapefruit. A spicy yeast base underlines the play of aromas.

Herbipolis is a spicy, tangy lager that goes wonderfully with Würzburg.

Würzburg on the bottle and in the bottle? Mission accomplished!