“Exuberant tropical fruit aroma leads to juicy grapefruit, pineapple and citrus flavors. This beer is a prime example of a San Diego IPA with pale straw color, restrained malt character, a bone dry finish, and loads of hops from first wort to dry hop.”
Glassware: IPA
Appearance: Amber to orange with a very mild haze. It forms a healthy two finger head which holds up well. Lovely thick lacing seen as we imbibe.
Aroma: Proper old-school WC IPA with its dank pine resins, ruby grapefruit, herbal spice, unripened tropical fruits i.e pineapple, mango and supported by interesting hints of red grapes and pomegranate (?). Something kind of sweet in here it’s almost like lemon meringue or sweet lemon tart. Well it started off as a traditional WC IPA but picked up some rather unique scents by the end.
Flavour: Well we can say this with certainty – the flavour profile is 100% West Coast. Nice pithy bitterness upfront followed by grapefruit, pine resin, orange citrus, spicy florals, candied lemon and hints of spring onion. It holds a pretty discernible doughy/bready malt structure which balances the intensity of the hops. Classic West Coast finish – bitter, dry, boozy and aggressive.
Mouthfeel: Sharp, oily and assertive. 8.5% pretty notable at times. Medium body. Co2 is spot on.
Overall: It’s no Pliny but it’s still a pretty damn fine representation of the style – big and brash with that classic aggression that almost wrecks the poor old palate. It’s not perfect but we still respect it.