“San diago” is not only known for the channel 5 news team, whale vagina’s and jazz flutes, but also for big, hopped up west coast IPA’s that are packed full of fruity west coast hops. Served in an IPA glass the amber-orange pour constructs a bubbly, off-white, one and a half finger cap with good head retention that eventually settles to a 5mm covering on top which laced well. This aroma is exactly what we are after from a solid west coast IPA. Big, bitter, spicy and boozy, offering wafts of grapefruit, aniseed, lavender, pine, mango, pepper, caramel malt and cedar wood. Just superb, two of the well known U.S ‘C’ hops (Columbus & Centennial) doing outstanding work for this aroma. In the mouth it’s dry and sharp with lively carbonation. Medium-full bodied with a solid IBU (85) to assure maximum dryness on the tongue. Kicking things off is an astringent booze burn that pairs up with yellow grapefruit, pepper and woody spice. The aggressive hop bitterness carries these forward and is eventually dampened by hints of muted caramel and biscuit malts that creep in through the mid. The finish is dry, pithy and citric with extraordinary duration on the taste buds. 7% in alcohol volume and it’s definitely well represented in both aroma and flavour. Wow, this is a really robust and tenacious IPA, full of hoppy character and bite and as far as west coast IPA’s go this one should be right up there with the best. Absolute pearler.