Review #1371 – Mad River Hopscotch 3rd Release

Hopscotch is a release from Mad River that is produced in collaboration with breweries on the East Coast. Batch 3 of hopscotch is a collaboration with 14th Star Brewing Co. in St. Albans, VT. This is a bottle that I tried blind, and then was given the reveal afterwards.

Review #1371 | American Review #604

Distiller: Mad River

Bottler: Mad River

Brand: Mad River

Selection: N/A

ABV: 46% ABV

Age: NAS

Nose: Honey, hay, fresh baked bread, peach. Fragrant honey, lavendar, cardamom.

Taste: Super sweet – lots of apples, pears, peaches and blueberry. Sweet, mega fruity, and that’s almost it. Some ethanol, faint heat, light pepper. Mouthfeel is thin to medium.

Finish: Short, a bit hot, but quickly wisps away. Sweet, lots of peach, apple, pear, a honey dew note that is super unique.

Overall: This tastes young, mega fruity, sweet and fragrant. I think this may be another brandy or calvados, but it’s really pleasant. I like it a lot and can only imagine the cocktail opportunities as well. Head on the chopping block I’m going to guess this is a younger calvados, around the 7 year mark, 42% ABV. I’m prepared to be very wrong.

Thanks for reading!

Rank: 5

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Decoded:

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.

5 | Good | Good, just fine.

6 | Very Good | A cut above.

7 | Great | Well above average

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect