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Firestone Walker is headed into serious breakfast fruits for the upcoming Luponic Distortion. Blueberry meet Pomelo grapefruit for the next 2020 IPA in the series. I am hoping that at one point they will variety pack a few years worth of the series to make comparisons. But I am excited to taste this one.
As a child, I would get citrus in my Christmas stocking. Navel oranges or tangerines and now it is Satsumas. But Saint Arnold has a different citrus for their Winter IPA, grapefruit.
I prefer to think of the beer name as a derogative toward a certain coming sorta-president (check it Merriam-Webster) but this 4-pack is a smack to a certain brewery that landed in Long Beach in 2016 with all sorts of Sculpins.
Here are my capsule reviews of the four IPA’s
“Plain”
Getting grapefruit pith here. Dark yellow, orange in color. Coats the tongue. Getting done grain in the back too. Rye spice notes here too. At 7.1% this is a strong and not necessarily neutral base for the other beers to follow.
Grapefruit
Lots of ruby red in the aroma. I was worried that the original was too grapefruity to differentiate much but this does that. Little bit more sawdust type grain here. Not as much pith here but more of the juice bitterness.
Mango
Initial thought is sweeter but that is incorrect. Aroma is fresh cut mango. Seems lighter than the two previous beers. The fruit is forward until the last few sips when a hearty bitterness takes charge.
Habanero
Wow. This is spicy. I can feel my lips tingling from the spice which lingers on and awaits food to suck up the heat. This beer subdues the hops for habanero too much but on its own is a fine spice beer.
Can the three strong flavors of gin, grapefruit and a Belgian tripel live together? And how strange is the English language that comes up with a phrase like Hapax Legomenon?
Last question, who mentioned it to Cigar City Brewing so that it could be used for such a strange beer?
Angel City continues to add beers to the rotation with the latest (after their Double IPA) being the pun-illy named Lager. The lager “is a slightly sweet honey grapefruit lager with a strong citrus aroma and a subtle tart bite. Made with pink grapefruit and sage honey…”
I have enjoyed a good track record with the lighter beers from ACBC such as the Marilyn Cream ale and their pilsner so I predict this one will be good too.
While perusing the shelves of Portland’s excellent Beer Mongers store, I noticed a trend of citrus IPAs. Not just hops with citrus qualities but fruit infused IPAs.
So, for science, I bought three to unscientifically compare and contrast.
From past experience, I ranked the Lompoc first followed by Hop Valley and Coalition. But that is not the final ranking after each bottle was emptied.
Pamplemousse from Lompoc Brewing initially smelled great. Big grapefruit notes minus the pith which I find most commonly in citrus hop combos. But as it warmed, this beer started to lose that fruit vibrancy and settled into a nice IPA only.
Citrus Mistress from Hop Valley was full of the pith from first sip to last. But it was a little too one note for me. I guess I expected a variety of citrus and not just one flavor note.
My winner was Space Fruit from Coalition Brewing. The fruit was there both orange and lime to me along with a spice component that I didn’t line at first but really grew on me.
I think a mix of the last two would have really done the trick.
Now I need to find three SoCal fruit IPAs to test.
Here is the latest info from Goose Island….
I love the cheesy music and what must have been a painful position atop barrels from which to ask questions but even better was the answers. Grapefruit? Sounds good to me.
Each month in 2012 I have an extra $20 (courtesy of my wife) for craft beer and this month, I decided to go all Widmer….
I have tasted all of the Rotator series of IPA’s and so far, my favorite of the bunch is the Spiced IPA. Primarily because it was sooo different from the normal IPA. I first encountered Shaddock at the Oregon Brewer’s Festival a couple year’s back and was mildly impressed but I wanted to re-visit thinking that the recipe may have been tweaked.
I had two Omission choices. Lager or Pale Ale. I went with the lager simply because I don’t normally buy lagers and it was a hot day when I bought it. We shall see if that decision pays off.
You can check out what I bought in June (also from Oregon) HERE
Now I have never been a huge fan of the radler or shandy even though my gateway beer to craft world was a raspberry wheat. But I do like the idea of grapefruit juice added. And if I remember, there have been some grapefruit IPA’s as well and with summer here, the low abv of 2.5%would make a good and alternative lawnmower beer.
Real fruit juice gives the new Stiegl Radler a distinct, tart aroma and natural cloudiness.
It’s good to see Karl Strauss back in the game rather than resting on their laurels and it’s good to see a pale ale!
“Karl Strauss Brewing Company is releasing the next installment of their seasonal program, Pintail Pale Ale. The company has brewed Pintail Pale Ale for over nine years, however, this is the first time it will be available in bottles.
Pintail is a classic American Pale Ale, loaded with pine and citrus flavors from a blend of Newport and Cascade hops. After fermentation, Pintail is dry-hopped with a pound of Amarillo hops per barrel, for a distinct grapefruit aroma and flavor. The vibrant hoppiness of the beer is balanced by a blend of Carapils and caramel malts, creating a firm backbone to support the lingering, dry finish. Brewer Paul Segura says, “We’ve got a lot of hop heads who love this beer for its intense grapefruit flavors.”