Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 130 - Hoplark HopTea
117 Plays1 year ago
This week we bring the beginning of our Dry January 2024 series with some delicious HopTea from Hoplark
www.hoplark.com
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
This week, we sample hop tees from Hoplark. This is episode 130 of The Molting Hour. What's the haps on the hops, guys, that's peace. This the molten hour where we talk about our drink and tell you what we think every other week. And if we get drunk, well, we might slur our speech. Got the gift of ab, the friends who wish you had. Join us for a drink. Join us for a laugh. Time is never wasted. The way you're getting wasted. The molten hour here. People, people taking place. People, people taking place.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome to the Malting Hour.
2024 Beginnings and New Year's Illness
00:00:35
Speaker
I am one of your hosts, Tony Golding, joined Always With. Brandon Winter. Happy January, everybody. Happy New Year! Yeah, this is our first official recording of 2024. It is. The last one was then after the final pour from 2023. Correct. So here we are so far. We've made it to the New Year. Brandon, how's your New Year been so far?
00:00:55
Speaker
It's it's been good Minus about was probably norovirus or whatever it was cool that the whole family got so that was fun. So nice. Yeah, I've avoided Knock on wood any real sicknesses yet, you know a cold that was about it but nothing that was knocking me on my ass too bad, but I
Chicago Weather and Dry January Approaches
00:01:19
Speaker
So far so good and here we are in the first real cold-ass day in Chicago Wind chills today got to negative 30 baby. Why do we live here? It was dude. It was ridiculous. I mean like this morning when I went out We were getting ready before Benjamin had his ice skating and like I I ran out to do something at the car I stepped outside for something like oh, it's cold. It's not like too bad. I
00:01:45
Speaker
And then I felt like after we got out of his lesson, it was like, just after 11, I'm like, it's colder. Like, this is getting worse. And it surely did. Tomorrow night or tomorrow's, tomorrow morning is supposed to be terrible. By the time everybody's listening to this, here in Chicago, it'll be negative 34 with the wind chill. Lovely. I also broke my door handle on my car for inside of that. What? So my door was like frozen shut and I was pulling and it kind of like popped out.
00:02:13
Speaker
Uh, so I have to now go to the passenger side. This all just happened today. I have to go to the passenger side and open up my door. Okay. So that's cool. I got that going for me at least. My car started, man, and that's all that mattered. Actually, I also- Had you not started it since like Friday? Since, yeah, since Friday. I know. Yeah, Friday. Friday was the last time I started, because I went to the store at night. Okay. Around 9.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, since Friday was the last time I started my car, so I was really nervous. I felt like I didn't want to say anything to you because I came by for dinner today and I was like, oh man, I might have to cancel. But I didn't want to say anything. I can't get there. So my car is dead and I'm getting to work tomorrow.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's man that fire right now is I already feel the warmth over here. It's so nice. Yeah, this is great I've got it in our studios are the best I've got it set so it should turn off when it gets to like 78 degrees or something like that It's very nice very very comfortable
00:03:08
Speaker
Yeah, so very cold. Actually, I have. So when I went to the store to grab what we needed for tonight, I realized, oh, I should grab some of the groceries. So I have chicken in my car right now. Oh, that'll be fine. I know. That's what I thought. I'm like, I don't even need to bring this in. Like, I'm just going to leave it outside, leave it in the car. I've got a free freezer. Yeah.
00:03:28
Speaker
Well, I thought about the two I was gonna buy some carbonated water and I was like I was gonna freeze and explode in my car and then I want to bring them back and forth so But anyways, here we are full swing into dry January
00:03:42
Speaker
Well, Brandon, you're doing full-on dry January. Yep. I'm doing, again, dry-ish. I did have a couple drinks yesterday while doing some karaoke. That was nice. But other than that, it's been really nice not taking a break, giving the body a break again. I always look forward to when February rolls around. I'm like, fuck you, dry January. I'm making up for lost time. I normally start with drinking.
00:04:07
Speaker
Hard booze. Bottles of bourbon by myself. I missed you. I haven't brewed in a while and I thought about brewing soon and maybe doing that again, doing the sour that's very low alcohol. Okay. Like the cherry one, so that by the time February comes around. Having that on tap is super tasty and refreshing. But we're going to start with something that I'm familiar with, something I like drinking.
Hoplark Tea Sampling and Impressions
00:04:36
Speaker
This is from a company known as Hoplark. And I have purchased their hop tees, which I have had the three that I brought today.
00:04:47
Speaker
The first one, I'm not gonna tell you what I think, I mean, while we're drinking them all the time, but I already have a ranking of these because I've had them before. But basically, I didn't have this open, or I didn't have anything pulled up. For this one, this is the Hoplark Hop Tea Calm one. It's chamomile tea. Oh, we're gonna fall asleep. It's carbonated water with organic chamomile flowers and citra hops.
00:05:11
Speaker
And it says, tea brewed like craft beer. Now more than ever, taking a moment of calm is actually the most important thing to do. This hoppy experience pairs well with a good book or an evening walk. Or falling asleep next to a fire with your friend while recording a podcast. Have you ever had these before, Braden? I don't believe so. So it's literally just carbonated tea with hops in there. Here, pass that to you. Sorry, I may have poured a little too much in mine.
00:05:42
Speaker
I'll just get more drowsy than you. Which will be fine. You've got to drive. Yeah, it makes more sense. I'm just going to sleep here. It's zero calories, zero sugar, zero everything. Oh, good. It worked out. But yeah, so this is it. Give it a smell. It reminds me of when I made my own hot water before. I smell tea, and I smell hops.
00:06:13
Speaker
mission accomplished hoplark i taste tea and i taste hops what do you think of it oh that's pretty good actually um yeah the the hops are nice it complements the chamomile uh pretty good i i don't drink i mean i do drink tea like not all the time but you know on the on the reg um no a couple times a month i have a some tea at night but anyway
00:06:43
Speaker
Camel meal's not my go-to. I think Becca drinks it a lot, because I think that's her sleepy time tea. But this is really good.
00:06:54
Speaker
For a chamomile tea and like mixed with the citra like I'm enjoying it. Yeah, this is uh, so this one Uh, i've brought all these to work before too. Like it I make this my When I have these like i'll i'll drink it in the middle of the day like towards the end of the day because it's kind of like it feels like a reward for myself like well, here you go, buddy a nice cold carbonated hoppy drink and um
00:07:22
Speaker
It's, I don't know, I just think it's super refreshing. I've had these in hot days. This is the first time I'm having it like now during like dry January. I've never had these before during dry January. Last year, I was all about those La Guanita's hoppy waters, all the different flavors they had. And I saw those today too. I was like, oh man, I forgot about those mixed packs that are pretty good. I mean, I just like the straight up hoppy water that they do. Oh yeah. And we've talked about that before.
00:07:48
Speaker
Um, but yeah, this one I, this one is really, really tasty. It's easy to drink. It's hoppy, but it's not super bitter, which is what I think is a plus, but it also, it tastes like Citra hops. Like there is a hoppiness to it.
00:08:05
Speaker
Yeah, and they have a scale on the can that kind of shows what level the hoppiness should be at. And this one's at the lowest level. Correct. It's just a wee bit. Yeah, that's what it is. It really says wee bit. I didn't even know that was on there, that they have the hop level on there.
00:08:21
Speaker
Yep. In a sense, it's tea brewed like craft beer. I'd really be interested to know how they do that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm just wondering if they do like, like a steep, it's probably kind of like, instead of mashing, they're steeping it with, no, I don't think they'd be steeped with hops. I guess, I mean, I would think so. They could do a boil, I guess. Yeah. It's kind of damn hop, hoplark. Be like, what's up?
00:08:46
Speaker
Tell us what's going on. Yo, how you do this? The first time I ever had this, I saw it at...
00:08:53
Speaker
Whole Foods and Laura and I were grabbing some food there, uh, to eat there. And I saw that and I was like, Oh, hop water. I'll give this a try with not even like putting together. It's just hop tea, but not putting together like, Oh yeah, I'm about to drink tea. And it was nighttime, but again, it was the, the chamomile one. So I didn't feel, um, and it's caffeine free. Well, this one is. Yeah, exactly. I don't know what the other ones, I don't know if the other ones are.
00:09:19
Speaker
Caffeine free, but I've tried some of their other just hop waters, not the hop teas, which I know I don't think we did. I don't think we talked about these last year.
00:09:30
Speaker
And I just saw that they have a mixed pack. I'm looking on their website now, but I tried the Sabro hops and the Citra. I've tried all three. Yeah, the Sabro, the Mosaic and the Citra. Those are their hop waters and those are also very good. Yeah, I like this as an alternative for drinking with still getting the hoppiness in there. It's refreshing. It's great to have during the day.
00:09:55
Speaker
Yeah, I like this. I like that this is a thing. I really do. I think what's kind of neat about it, too, is that it's not... Don't get me wrong, I love the hopped waters, but this is a little bit of a different take. There's... There's more flavor to it. And I don't think... Now, I know there's hard teas, but is there like a...
00:10:22
Speaker
There has to have been somebody that's brewed a beer that like, and like infused it with tea or something like that. For sure. I know there's some, I mean, um, yeah, I'm trying to think. I know I've seen, there's definitely been beers with black tea. Oh yeah. Um, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head though.
00:10:44
Speaker
I mean, there's hibiscus, but that's a flower, but you can have a hibiscus tea. So, you know, there's beers with hibiscus in it. Listen, like, is Rosa? That's got hibiscus in it. Yeah. But it's not really a tea leaf flower. No, no, no. Yeah. But I mean, tea leaves are...
00:10:59
Speaker
From a plant. I don't know tea. Why is this gonna be so hard? Well my thought was I'm trying to like anything you kind of brought up the point I was like man I've had some really good teas before as I'm like orange like zesty teas like some that have like lemon essence in there I'm like that would be good with like a half of ice in or something like that But then I'm then in my head I'm like is that the actual tea or is like the tea bag just got like You know dried orange peel in there or something and that's really how I am the flavor I could be
00:11:27
Speaker
I'm looking, so I looked it up and this doesn't help. So there is beer for golf from off color. Yeah. And that beer is supposed to kind of be like an Arnold Palmer. So your secret ingredients on that are lemon peel, lemon juice, and black tea. Interesting. So that might be one of the ones that. Have you had that one yet? I believe I have. I love a good Arnold Palmer.
00:11:57
Speaker
Do you have that when you're golfing when I go golfing all the time? You know me Tony the golfer. I've gone golfing once in my life Did not end. Well, yeah, it was fine. But you go golfing. I'd maybe down do golf before I've got golf clubs. I have golfed I think the light would have been just a better response. Do you go golfing? I have golf clubs. Um, I think the last time
00:12:22
Speaker
might have been my buddy Joe Lococo's wedding, possibly. Or no, his bachelor party up in the Dells, which was an issue all on its own. It was debauchery, some of it. But anyways, the first night we went up there, we got like, we were staying at the Kalahari Resorts, just like a family resort. We were there, we had like two adjoining rooms. We just, I think we had two adjoining rooms. We had a massive room.
00:12:50
Speaker
we got annihilated the first night to the point where like i think i fell off the bed and i was sleeping on the floor and we had like a 7 30 tea time i was like are you fucking kidding me that's insane for a bachelor party a 7 30 tea time it was at full 18 holes to the best man yeah but the golf course out there was pretty dope
00:13:08
Speaker
There are spots you're hitting like you're hitting literally like off a cliff that like cliffs up there that you're kind of hitting off into. So there's cool spots. So I'm like I'd be down to either like do some golfing like that or like we could just go and like get drunk and go to Topgolf. Topgolf is so
Topgolf Memories and Hop Tea Rating
00:13:24
Speaker
much fun. Yeah. I did it.
00:13:27
Speaker
Last year with my boss and it was snowing it was nighttime. It was cool as hell Yeah, it wasn't like super cold. Like I just wore a hoodie and there was lamps over us but snow is coming down Yeah, that was that was a lot of fun. It was that was great. So our
00:13:44
Speaker
The guy company the guy's company who works on our the company that works on our forklifts the guy who runs that company it was like a customer appreciation party so you just opened it like he did full spread to like
00:14:00
Speaker
He rented out like four bays and all the drinks were comped and the food was like the top tier of what you can order like these fajitas and stuff dessert and everything. It was like 30 people. So it was it was really cool. Did a lot around that I found out I was pretty I played that they had angry birds.
00:14:19
Speaker
So you'd look at the screen and you would see where you're shooting the bird. OK. So that was a lot of fun. But also just trying to get the most points while doing the ball. It's a lot of fun. Top golf is fun. We should go do that. It's a little pricey, but it's a lot of fun. Yeah, I did top golf once. And that was, I think, 2019. When I traveled for work and when we had people in our office, I went to Denver. And with our whole team, I put together
00:14:51
Speaker
that noise. Sounds like water running. Oh, yeah, probably the bathtub draining upstairs. So that'll be fun. Anyway, so I was we went out there and we did an event and we have like, we ordered some food and I think I mean, we didn't have like a drink package or anything. But it was like,
00:15:08
Speaker
Like it was a great time. Yeah. Just a lot of fun. Swinging golf clubs and hanging out and like, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's fun and it's worth it. So maybe, and they had good, they had a good beer selection there too. I was, I forgot what I was, I think it was drinking like Voodoo Ranger or something like that. I do remember though, after that going home and cracking open to Bourbon County. So Saturday night I was like, ah, I'm going to watch a movie and drink some Bourbon County.
00:15:34
Speaker
That was a lot of fun. Now, I'm curious, what's the company that does your forklifts? I don't know the name off the top of my head. I know the guy's name. His name's Jim. Thanks, Jim. We're hoping that he wants to do it again. Also, our box guy last year, we buy our box that custom made boxes from. It took us to Buffalo Wild Wings just for like a lunch thing or whatever. And I think I text you and Clark about this.
00:15:58
Speaker
that and maybe Dan that uh we got there he's like you guys can have a drink or whatever you want and i was like oh i'm like if you guys are gonna have a beer i'll have a beer and i see in the back i'm like they have cans of vsoj no no not vsoj just just straight jacket they had just straight jacket from revolution uh and i was like
00:16:17
Speaker
Well, you guys have, I'd mentioned at the bar, I'm like, wow, you guys have, uh, revolutions, like barely. Yeah. And the guy was like, you guys want to have one of those? And I'm like, you guys, those are like 14%. Like, come on, that's fine. I'm like, if you guys want to have those, I'll have one too. Sure enough. He bought three of those. And I was like,
00:16:35
Speaker
I was, I mean, and we were eating food and everything, but I felt, it's like one o'clock in the afternoon, and like a Wednesday, I was feeling pretty good, and I was like, okay, I can't do that. I'm very good. Go back and take a nap. Yeah, I wanted to so bad. I was so tired. Everybody, when I came back, I was like, hey guys. Like, I'm not driving the forklift anymore, I'll just receive stuff in. Yeah, right. But that was a lot of fun. Brandon, how many Sleepy Bear
00:17:05
Speaker
hats do you know that we're referencing the what is it i forget the tea it's got the sleepy time bear on there and it's camomile he's got that i think it's called sleepy time tea i think that's the stuff becca how many sleepy time bears are you giving this one um we both look tired right i'm gonna go three nine all right
00:17:26
Speaker
For this one in particular, this is like four or five for me. I really love this. So like my vote could, I don't know if my number will change, but like my ranking, I think this might end up being higher than, I don't know, whatever. Well, and your palettes are gonna be, I mean, our palettes are different, especially with this. This seems very...
00:17:46
Speaker
specific who brands putting his feet up we're but we both I'm just tired I feel like I'm tired from this weekend it's been a long cold I'm tired from this week and so what what sucked about I mean I hate that we had we were all sick this week but like so Becca had a medical procedure last week on Friday that she had to prepare for I'm like you know like
00:18:14
Speaker
She wasn't allowed to eat or anything before her procedure. So that was Thursday. And then it was like Thursday and Friday. I was basically taking care of Benjamin doing all that stuff. Right. And then Saturday night I was in the bedroom with him when he threw up. Oh, fine. Like I was digging into the ritz by the way. I looked over and I was like, fucking hot dogs. No. No. Hot dog came back.
00:18:39
Speaker
I was literally laying right next to him and all of a sudden I just brrrrrr. Luckily I moved just in time. He was sick, so we took care of him. That night, Becca got laid on the floor with him the entire night. He got sick a couple more times throughout the night.
00:18:59
Speaker
you know probably did not get a great night's sleep but sure as shit 6 30 in the morning or some six o'clock he was right awake running around he's like let's go upstairs come on let's go I'm like the hell
00:19:11
Speaker
So I went to school Monday, but Monday, Becca was the one she was saying. She was like, I'm not feeling great. And I was like, uh-uh, OK. And then she was kind of sick. And then I was putting Benjamin to bed because she wasn't feeling good. And then laying there with Benjamin. And I'm just like, I'm laying there all of a sudden. I start hearing him breathing funny.
00:19:37
Speaker
please god no and i like open up my eyes and i like while i'm like opening my eyes to look to check to see what's going on with them i just hear splat oh no again and he's like i threw up again oh god um and it wasn't a lot so he like just ripped his sheets off his bed he got back on the floor
00:19:58
Speaker
and then he ended up throwing up like one more time. But like, I did not sleep that entire night. I literally, first I was laying on the floor, like watching him most of the night. And then I was like, I was like so uncomfortable. Like I'm not, I'm by no means a skinny guy. And laying on my side the entire night, my hip was killing me. So I like, I'm like, you got a nice foam mattress, Benjamin. I'm gonna go lay in your bed. So I did, but I still couldn't sleep. And it was like 5.45. Our alarms usually go off at six in the morning.
00:20:28
Speaker
545, 550, I fell asleep. The alarm went off. I was like, God damn it. That sucked. That's a rough, long day. Yeah, so then Tuesday, it was like I was miserable. I messaged my boss. I'm like, this is what's going on. Benjamin's home sick. Becca's off work because she's sick. And I said, I'm trying to keep my sanity together. I'm going to work.
00:20:50
Speaker
Uh, as long as I can, we'll try and figure this out. Um, so I worked the day and I think like at lunch time I went up and took a nap and then Becca was like, Oh, we're going to, we'll keep Benjamin home on Wednesday too. I'm like, great. I was off on Wednesday cause the company gave us off. And so then I was, and she decided she was going to work. So I'm like, great.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, so like literally that and then Wednesday night is when I got sick. So so I took Thursday off and then Friday I was still kind of out of it and like just I think just my body's been needing to catch up
Family Challenges and CitriBomb Review
00:21:28
Speaker
on sleep. So yeah, it sounds like it. But less than I think I caught up pretty decently and then like Benjamin surprisingly. He he didn't get up like it is normal like between six and seven and it was like 715. I think he came into our room.
00:21:46
Speaker
And like normally he comes in and he's like, wake up, it's morning time. But he starts singing Chop Suey. Yeah. Wake up. But he walked right in and like, Becca just moved over in bed and you hopped in and like they started like snuggling and they fell back asleep when I was like, great. So we fell back asleep. And then we all ended up waking up at like 8.15. I was like, I got a decent night's sleep. Nice.
00:22:11
Speaker
Sounds pretty good. Let's see how tonight goes. I'm off tomorrow, so I got that going for me. I'm not. I wish I was. I originally was going to take it off, but I ended up, we ended up being closed on Friday because of the storm that came through here. And yeah, last night, went out, did some karaoke. Came back home. And I ended up sleeping until about
00:22:42
Speaker
which is rare for me. So I slept in and then today I just kind of hung out, watched some movies and took another nap and then got up to make sure that my car started to come here to see you and have dinner here with you guys, which thank you very much. The food was very good. So like I said, I broke the handle of my car. It's still attached at least. I think I just need to take it to my mechanic to have it fixed.
00:23:09
Speaker
Speaking of watching movies, while I was under the weather, I finally watched The Equalizer with Denzel Washington. I have never seen it. How was it? It was good. It was pretty good. It's funny. I think, were you there when I was telling Becca's parents? It's like John Wick, but with Denzel Washington. Yeah. Is that what it is? It's kind of like it is. Nice. That's hilarious. But it was actually pretty good. I watched the first two.
00:23:35
Speaker
Oh, good. Yeah, I think since you and I sort of rewatch John Wick, I can now go back and watch John Wick 2 and 3 and then 4. Yeah, I still have to watch 3 and 4. Yeah, I need to. I'm waiting. Watch him. So, we're drinking the next one. Brandon, which one of the hoplarks are we drinking now? We are drinking the Citribom one. Yes. And this one is on the hoppiness level of, whoa!
00:24:05
Speaker
Joey Lawrence from Blossom. What do you think of this one? Or is there a description? Or is it the same? Actually, I think it is.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, this is different. If you like us, you see the world through citra-colored glasses. We pair delicate whole leaf white tea with a whoa level of citra hops, meant to be enjoyed enthusiastically. I'm enthusiastic. I'm enjoying this. This is hoppy. And if you turn it around by the nutrition facts, it should say it with the ingredients. Zero calories, oh. Carbonated water, citra hops.
00:24:48
Speaker
Organic white tea and citric acid. There we go. I'm doing acid? Yeah, you're gonna trip balls. The other one did not have acid.
00:24:59
Speaker
So this one definitely is much more bitter. Dude, that's, well, and not only that, I predominantly smelt the Citra hops. No. There's no tea smell. I'm getting like the, I'm getting the essence of tea when I'm drinking it. But yeah, totally. It was like a punch in the face with the tea or the hops. Yeah, this was, I think this was the,
00:25:26
Speaker
first one I tried of the hop tees. I know I've said it was a cameo, but now I think about it. I think this one was the first one I tried because of this to try that one standing out so much to me. I was like, why wouldn't I want to try this? I think this one does have caffeine in it, too. Yeah, dude, you're going to stay up late tonight now. Idiot.
00:25:48
Speaker
30 mugs of caffeine. So yeah this is a good one to have in the middle of the day to start your day too because there's caffeine in it and if you're an alcoholic but you don't want to like drink you still want that hoppiness you can drink this. I have drank this at work this one as well I like this one
00:26:10
Speaker
a little less than the calm one. The calm one is one I can drink all the time and it still has a happiness to it. This one...
00:26:21
Speaker
there's a lot of hop to it, which is good. If you want something with a hot bite to it, I feel like this is a good way to go. Plus citrus delicious. Yeah. And I think, I mean, just, you know, for the first time trying it kind of splitting it, I think works really well for this. Um, but I think it's fantastic. Um, I'm kind of in the same boat with you. I may put the chamomile one a little bit higher than this. Um,
00:26:45
Speaker
Not that I don't like the Citra profile. I think it's, you know, the hop profile is great on this. It is a lot and it's meant to be a lot. But kind of like what you said, the other one is, you know, more long-term drinkable versus this one. It's like, yeah, I could, it would be like a one and done type of thing. Yeah. The Cameo one, if that was in like 12 ounce cans and I can get six packs of it, I would drink them all the time. 100%.
00:27:12
Speaker
I would just have those and drink them while I'm trying to get sleepy. But yeah, it's probably good that they're not like that because I would probably drink them all the time and if Camille really does make me sleepy, I would be falling asleep. Yeah. But at least there's caffeine in this sitcher one.
00:27:30
Speaker
like negating the sleepiness of the other one. Now we're gonna be wired. Yeah, I think the last one also has caffeine in it. Oh, great. And be like, go, go, go, go, you circus boy. Pretty new pet. I mean, I still gotta go edit this. I gotta go brave the tundra of Chicago one more time. That'll wake me back up. That's the thing.
00:27:53
Speaker
It's like the cold will wake me up. It's once I get in and I start feeling like warm and comfortable and then all of a sudden it's like sleepy time. So that's why I'm glad my warehouse gets cold because it's hard to be sleepy in a cold ass warehouse. Brandon, how many white tea leaves are you gonna give this one? Yeah, I'm...
00:28:22
Speaker
I'm like a four now. Yeah, see, I like this one. I'm trying to think for what it is right in the instance of the flavor and everything. I feel like you could rate it higher than the last one. Yeah. I'd still prefer. Yeah. I think that's where I'm at. I think the flavor-wise, for what it is and just kind of enjoying it, I really, really like it.
00:28:47
Speaker
for what it's supposed to be it's you know it's telling you it's got you know it literally says it's supposed to be a lot of hops and i think they nailed everything that they're you know they're claiming it to be so yeah i'm at like a four on this yeah i'm i'm i'm there with you because
00:29:04
Speaker
It has a special place in my heart as the first one that I tried. I think I'm going like 4-2, 4-2-5 on it. Because it is exactly what it says it's supposed to be. I think they nailed it. Ain't no lie. Bye, bye, bye. What? Yeah, dude. Yeah, this is... I really like these. Overall, do you like...
00:29:30
Speaker
I do. Do you like these? Yeah. I can only find out Mariano's and Whole Foods. Noted. You can also order cases of it online, I think. Oh, of course. Everyone needs cases of these. I mean, I wouldn't be mad at having a case. Hoplark, I wouldn't be mad if I had a case of these. Yeah, I mean, I'm really impressed with how well they're done. So I'm looking forward to the next one. Both of these, again, already, I feel like they're really good.
00:30:00
Speaker
Substitutions if you go to like, if you're hanging out with people who might not be doing Dry January and you know, you want to have
00:30:11
Speaker
somewhat of an adult beverage. This also works. Yeah. I feel like having a couple of these, like all three of these, you know, you don't have to, you're not going to pound these. Although because it's carbonated and I like the way they taste, I could drink these both very fast. Oh yeah. Which I normally do. And I try to like slow myself down on it, but I can't. We've got one more from Hoplark of these teas. I got a burp coming. Hold on. There it is. The hop scale on this one, this one is called
Really Hoppy Tea Evaluation
00:30:42
Speaker
The really hoppy one. However, the hop on the hop scale here, it just says really. So it's below. Whoa.
00:30:55
Speaker
So it's below the last one. So this one is if you enjoy fresh hoppy IPAs, you will love this intense hop flavor and aromas. You will love this intense hop flavor and aroma complimented with just the right amount of bitterness. It's carbonated water. The hops are cascade and Citro has organic black tea in it and some citric acid. Okay. So this is a black tea one. All right. Lips in tea.
00:31:23
Speaker
So this one, I wonder how this, I'm not sure if I had this one. I think maybe I had, this one looks like a beer. It looks more like a beer than the other ones. Look at the color on that. Let me get a little bit more of that caffeine. This one is caffeinated. This looks like a straight up beer. The other ones, we didn't really talk about the colors of them, they were kind of like
00:31:53
Speaker
whitish opaque like hazy this looks like we poured a hazy not like super hazy but a somewhat hazy beer oh hey doe dear interesting did you say what the cascade and citra okay we're really going with that citra hobby i can smell the cascade though yeah
00:32:19
Speaker
I'm interested in your take on this one. I feel like Cascade and Citra are the two that I can identify usually the most. Mosaic I can pick out. Maybe Mosaic. I don't know. Just because I think Cascade and Citra were like two of the first ones that I really kind of enjoyed.
00:32:36
Speaker
Cascade is one of my favorite. Citra is another. I am a big fan of Amarillo. Amarillo is a really good hop. I'd like to make another Amarillo, Citra, Cascade, IPA, or Paleo. What are you getting there? Uh, I almost said Mike. What are you getting there, Mike? Hold on. Mike, are you here? Somebody asked Mike. I can have this in Mike. Oh, hey, Mike. Ah, this does pretty good stuff.
00:33:07
Speaker
I'm sorry. I got a speech impediment. I got punched in the throat. That's all right. Well, thanks for... This one has 70 milligrams of caffeine. Oh, fuck. I'm sorry. Well, I'm trying to think. What's a can of coffee? Alexa, how many milligrams and a cup of coffee? Of caffeine. Alexa.
00:33:37
Speaker
oh great no no how many milligrams in a cup of coffee fuck never mind stop never mind never mind stop Alexa how many milligrams of caffeine in a cup of coffee I'm losing it the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can vary depending on the type of coffee and the serving size on average an eight ounce cup of coffee contains about
00:34:08
Speaker
We're having about a cup of coffee worth of caffeine tonight. That's not going to do anything to me. No. I still remember back in the day sitting at Golden Nugget and drinking a bunch of coffee until the sun came up and just going to bed. I really wrecked my body with caffeine. My body just became so mute. I still drink coffee in the morning because I like it.
00:34:30
Speaker
I don't think caffeine really does anything to me. No. As far as keeping me awake. It might prevent me from sleeping well, but as far as keeping me awake, no. What do you think of this one? Now that we heard from Mike, what do you think, Brandon?
00:34:46
Speaker
do that like that black tea is prominent yeah um at first it was kind of i thought it was smokiness yeah oh is this a roush tea um but yeah the the black tea is totally coming through and then like that's the predominant flavor and i feel like the the cascade and citrus are just
00:35:08
Speaker
I wouldn't even say it's not accompanying you. It's a little less. It's not as prominent and not as noticeable as the other two that we had already had. I think it's overshadowed by the black tea. I agree. I think this one
00:35:26
Speaker
would be good to mix with like lemon juice like as an Arnold Palmer type thing or like lemonade I mean or add like some type of other like citrus sweetness to it I think this would be a good
00:35:41
Speaker
one of these hoplark hot teas to blend or mix or use, use as a mixer or something. The other ones I like straight up as is, you know, to just drink normal. This one I could, I could, I could put like, I think adding some sweet citrus to it would just make it a little, like make it pop or, or make it a little bit better, I guess. Yeah, it's not bad. And like, I mean, in a pinch if like,
00:36:09
Speaker
Needed this over like coffee. I would I could do that still it's to me. This one's not as refreshing as the other two are correct But it's still tasty and I like that. It looks like beer Yeah, that's kind of it's it's dark like or the golden like very deceiving Yeah, if someone saw that if we take a picture, I mean you would think that
00:36:33
Speaker
Well and even like the What's what really messed with my head was how prominently the cascade and Citra like the the aroma is there? Yeah, that is there more than then tea. Yeah, and then like the Flavors the complete opposite like it's like hello. I'm tea. Were you looking for something? Yeah, this is
00:37:01
Speaker
This is pretty good. Like I said, I don't remember having this one, so I don't think I've had this before. How many black tea leaves are you giving this one? Clever. I thought it was real hard. I'm a go.
00:37:22
Speaker
Mmm, it's three two. Wow, hello, huh? Three two, three, yeah. I'm gonna go with three five on this. Yeah, I was between two and five. This is, it's good. It's definitely not bad. I think there is a, definitely an audience for this one specifically because of how much it tastes like tea. Yeah.
00:37:46
Speaker
Like the tea flavor is definitely the star of this one. Yeah, I feel like there's people you could give this to and say, hey, this is a black carbonated black tea. And they would drink it and be like, oh, this tastes like tea. Yeah. And possibly not even notice the profile. Or notice I'm like, oh, there's another flavor in there. What is it? Yeah. Not being able to maybe recognize it. Agreed. While the other two definitely have
00:38:14
Speaker
you know, specific hop attributes. Yeah, I mean that I would attribute that to those being lighter T's obviously, so. Good point. So if you had to rank the three of what you like the most, obviously we like all three, but if you had to rank them, how would you rank them?
00:38:35
Speaker
I would do chamomile first, citrus second, and then this one last. Right there with you. Those are my, yeah, that's how I felt about these. The chamomile one is my favorite. It just kind of, it's just very refreshing, very tasty. I like the the hoppiness of it. It's not super strong, but I also just like the flavor of the tea and the carbonated water. Hoppler, I don't know how long these have been around, but were they
00:39:04
Speaker
I'm curious to know if they were at like GABF when we were there. They may have been. I think they may have been only because of I remember
00:39:16
Speaker
Looking into their hot waters after or before I mean Yeah, like I I would like maybe I'll you know, maybe we'll we've got a couple more You know dry January episodes to do maybe I will see if I can grab some of their hot waters to have because the Sabra Citra mosaic are all I
00:39:43
Speaker
all three are also just very different as far as like the difference of these two. It looks like they have some other ones as well. Oh, there's a mosaic tea one that we didn't have. Yeah, they have also really, really hoppy one. That would be okay to try. I mean, so,
00:40:09
Speaker
Now the price point on these, they're, like I said, they're not super cheap. They are kind of pricey. Like a 12 pack of, if you got like a mix of the 12 pack, it's $40.
00:40:28
Speaker
Which, you know, I mean, that's 12 teas for 40 bucks. But I mean, a lot goes into it and I get it and I understand. The one I wanna try, it's called the Relax Mix, which has the chamomile on there, but it has the mild hibiscus, which is spicy complexity of, oh, sorry, that's just the, sorry, that's going on. They have a Thai basil one, the calm one, which we had, and they have a spruce-y one, a spruce tip one.
Exploring Alternatives and Conclusion
00:40:59
Speaker
So I'd like to try that. They also have a hot tea limited edition cream soda one that they did. They have a bunch of just, they have a root beer one they did. I'd like to try the sprucey one.
00:41:13
Speaker
But yeah, the mild hibiscus one and then just the green tea one, which they did as well. And all these 12 packs, you know, they're 16 ounce cans by the way. So 12 packs, they're about $40 to get it. You can have them shipped to you as well. And I know that they, I think they also have their different hop waters other than the ones that I mentioned.
00:41:36
Speaker
So they have the, I know there are flagship ones where the Sbarro hops, Mosaic hops, and Citra, but they also have a Strata hop one, a Talus hop, an Autumn Blend, a Saz hops, a Brew One hops. They have a bunch of, looks like they have a bunch of different ones, and it looks like they have some other type of one-offs they do. They have also Hoplark 0.0, that's the better way to NA. Ooh.
00:42:05
Speaker
They do a sour. A citra. Really? The really happy one. I would like to try the sour. Those look like they're a little more expensive. I wonder if these are more... Yeah, so it's done as a beer because it says it's a unique riff on a kettle sour. Citra flavor bomb with no calories, no sugar, and new gluten. This I might need to try.
00:42:29
Speaker
especially with me talking about the sour beers I like to try when we come out of dry January. Maybe this is a way to end dry January with something like that. Yeah, we'll see.
00:42:41
Speaker
I kind of I looked up their site to like just kind of the random stuff on there. They have Hoplark a limited edition root beer. Yeah, sounds interesting. Yeah That's pretty cool, I'm impressed with What they're trying and I would be Definitely would be interested in trying way more of their stuff. I will do some research see what I can find maybe some of these
00:43:07
Speaker
Single can beer places have some of these. Or I just go to Whole Foods where you can also buy some single cans of this stuff too. See what I can get. Maybe grab a couple and we'll do another follow up. I'll try to be fine with. Because, you know, we gotta make dry January work, baby. We gotta find. There's so many alternatives now and I'm very happy.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, I had that untitled art earlier today. That was good. I mean, for a hazy IPA, you know, a non-alcoholic hazy IPA.
00:43:42
Speaker
It was definitely not something that would scratch the edge of like needing, you know, or wanting a hazy IPA, but it was just enough to be like, okay, it's okay. Good. Yeah. That's a, we haven't handed him yet. I almost bought a six pack of it, but the athletic brew at the Mariano's by you by Elston, they have their stout over there. So almost grabbed that. We haven't tried the Guinness one yet either. So we've got some other,
00:44:11
Speaker
Any beers to try? I don't know if it was in one of the beer groups. I think I randomly saw a post maybe from some Guinness group that showed up on my Facebook feed. But they were saying that somebody was saying that the zero Guinness is the closest thing to an actual Guinness. Interesting. Yeah. I've heard it's supposed to be pretty decent.
00:44:34
Speaker
Well, we'll have to get that done. Maybe we'll do some stouts. We'll grab some of those and split up. I know Stella also has an N.A. beer now. Ooh, interesting. An N.A. Stella. I've had the N.A. Heineken before. I mean, we couldn't get it. Yeah, still mine. The thing about N.A. Heineken is that it tastes like Heineken. Yeah.
00:44:53
Speaker
I don't really care for Heineken, but I'll tell you this, I did go out. I'm not in high school anymore. Yeah, I was rolling rocks. I was going to say, now if they had any ruling rocks. That I would do. I'd be all over that. We need to have rolling rock on this show. We need to. That might be our first thing in February. We'll get a case of rolling rock. I still have rolling rocks. That still exists. I think it still exists, man. Well, we've got a Super Bowl show we've got to do again. We'll get all the macro beers again. When is the Super Bowl this year? February 15?
00:45:22
Speaker
Six? Four? I don't know man, somewhere around there. Thirteenth? Somewhere around there. It's no longer on my birthday weekend anymore, so I'm bummed about that. I don't know why they pushed it out so far about losers. Soon it's gonna be in like June. Super Bowl! You playoffs are done in January, we'll play the Super Bowl in June. Everybody takes some time off. Come back and we'll see how strong everybody is. It's like, oh how do these players get so fat?
00:45:47
Speaker
They just stopped working out. You gave them the spring off and they went to fucking Cabo or whatever. The Pro Bowl is multiple weeks long now. Yeah, I would totally be down to trying some rolling rocker. Yeah, I mean there's a handful of macro beers we still haven't had. Yeah, I was gonna say. There's a good amount.
00:46:09
Speaker
And I definitely think we have to get into the 40s territory at some point. I'm OK with that. I think that'll be a fun episode. Yeah. That one I might spend the night. We could play Edward 40 Hands. You got two 40s to your hands. What a great episode that would be. Let's see if we can get Matthew involved. Let me hit the stop button. Oh, the computer's dead. Hey, Matthew, we're looking at you for the Edward 40 Hands episode. We're going to bring you on for that one. We'll do the one to tape everyone up.
00:46:39
Speaker
Oh, man. Well, that's it for our first dry January episode. There it is, the Hoplark teas. If you know where to find them, go get them. Also, just go to their website. You can order there. While the price point might be a little high, it's a good product. It's delicious. I buy them occasionally. You know, it's three bucks or something like that. It can be 16 ounce hop teas and they're delicious and it's a nice little treat.
00:47:05
Speaker
You're playing the same price you would for a monster. Yeah, exactly. Except these just taste better, in my opinion. Although I do love a good sugar-free Red Bull every now and then. I was going to say, though, unless you're looking for a big blast of caffeine, you are not going to get that on us. No, but it's something to enjoy. Brandon, hello, everybody. Love you too, man. And we'll see you guys next week. Bye.
00:47:29
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Help Chicago, on Twitter, The Ace of Help Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three.
00:47:56
Speaker
Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.