Founders showed up in L.A. last month and I have had a few of their beers on tap but this is my first bottled brew bought in California.
Let’s see how they stack up in the tiny bit crowded IPA marketplace….
This is one of the darkest IPAs in recent memory. Very reddish/orange. My tastebuds are way to accustomed to extra West Coast bitters so I have to review with care because there is a definite hop difference. Mostly in amount. There is a tea like lightness here. The bitterness is there but not palate numbing. There is orange peel as well but overall this is not complex.
I am tilting more to lighter, sessionable IPAs that have more of a tropical kick and this has classic IPA written all over it so it is closer to my wheelhouse than bolder versions in the marketplace. I still prefer the Mosaic Promise from Founders more because it is more lively and less malt heavy.
Now I need to get some Backwoods Bastard.