Old Bust Head is a solar-powered farm brewery on a historic military site in Virginia, and most of its lineup leans English in style. Shorthorn is the outlier: a bold American pale ale dry-hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe, and by all accounts the hoppiest beer the brewery makes. Our tasters could not agree on it, which makes it the most interesting beer of the day.

The basics

• Brewery: Old Bust Head Brewing Co. (Vint Hill, VA)
• Style: American Pale Ale
• ABV: 5.8%
• IBU: ~40 (estimated; the brewery does not publish a figure)

What to expect

Shorthorn pours golden to amber with good clarity under a white head. It opens with lemon and grapefruit citrus from the Amarillo and Simcoe dry hop, then layers in a spicier hop character, pine and citrus rind, over a touch of malt sweetness. The finish is clean with a restrained but definite bitterness.

The hop character is distinctly West Coast-influenced, which stands out against the brewery’s otherwise English-leaning lineup. Reviewers describe a crisp citrus-rind bite with a piney edge. It drinks like a pale ale that knows exactly which tradition it belongs to and commits to it.

Our rating

6.35/10

Rated by Alex (5) and Nick (7.7). This is the widest split of the day, and it is worth stating plainly: Alex gave it a 5, which is firmly in “not recommended” territory for us, while Nick scored it 7.7, one of his stronger marks in this batch. We suspect Alex found the piney edge too aggressive or the whole thing unremarkable, while Nick appreciated the bold hop character. Averaged out, Shorthorn lands at 6.35: a beer one of us would happily order again and the other would happily skip.