A positive takeaway from the to-go rules has been getting lots of packaged IPAs that might not have escaped draft. I am particularly happy to have had many Pizza Port hops in my life, and that continues with their Outdoor Escape…
Escape
To the Moon
There are not a lot of strawberry beets out there and I can’t imagine that there are many strawberry IPA’s out there that are actually IPA but come April you will have Moon Boots IPA.
This is a partnership between 21st Amendment Brewing with the Pink Boots Society.
With this spring release, the brewery will be sponsoring 4 Pink Boots scholarships:
(1) Women in Leadership Certificate scholarship with eCornell University at $3,800
(3) Level Two Cicerone Course + Exam scholarships for Pink Boots members at $400 per recipient.
IPAs for Days
Need more hops? Well start shopping for…
…this anniversary (#5) from Brouwerij West or the following Beachwood meets Pizza Port IPA…
Either way you will get your dietary hop needs met.
Review – That Track is a Groove from Radiant Beer Co.
I finally snared a can from the new Anaheim brewery, Radiant Beer Co. The vinyl referencing That Track is a Groove West Coast IPA.
This IPA pours a big, bright yellow color. Snappy and effervescent on the tongue at first. Initially pine but a lighter burst of a creamy citrus jumps in to take over. Dare I say, more juicy than West Coast. Dare I say further that it strays into milkshake territory. There is a little bit of palate hop attack but it then turns soft. Not I need a bad way but there seems to me a bit of style drift from West Coast.
The Next IPA Craze
Yeah, that headline is facetious to a degree but I do not know how I missed the first go-round of the Horchata IPA…
Obviously, the star of this Mumford / Magnify collaboration is the lactose. Americans will suck down sweet no matter what. But the spice profile of Horchata seems to lend itself to more of a stout or a golden milk stout. I do not see how cinnamon and nutmeg would blend with hops. But maybe it is an opposites attract thing.
By the time this posts the beer will probably be sold out and trading online proving me to the contrarian yet again
Bear on the Water
I wasn’t a big fan of the label art on the Surfin’ Bird IPA collaboration which makes a background appearance in the new IPA and doubling down on clothes wearing cartoon animals is giving me some Hanna Barbera vibes that I don’t associate with bitter beers.
That being said, I would bet that the beer inside the can from Pizza Port and El Segundo will be quite good and that is not any Hong Kong Fooey.
Go Back
Now, if a delivery truck could go back in time think of the possibilities. For now, just be aware that two cool Ventura County breweries have teamed up on an IPA that is not hazy or West Coast. Maybe East Coast Clear is the next thing. And we would have Topa Topa and Casa Agria to thank.
IPA – Best In 2021
Followers of this Blog will know of my ambivalence to Best of… Lists. I even cast a skeptical eye at GABF medals because there is just no way of truly knowing what the “best” is, it is merely a snapshot of a small slice of “best” to me.
That being said, this year let me conduct a different way of choosing a best. It will be a year long experiment. It will be for two types of IPAs, Hazy and West Coast. I pick those two because I will more than likely drink more of them than any other style and they will be widely available as we move (hopefully) out of lockdown. It will not be exhaustive. More California with a smattering of Oregon, Washington and other states. It will be subjective. Very subjective.
Updates will arrive each month with a top three leaderboard as well as list of all the IPAs tasted so you can follow along.
Oh So
AleSmith has a new IPA collaborator, Alvarado Street Brewery, Oso Under a West coast IPA with hops from down “under” Australia and New Zealand hops (Galaxy, Vic Secret & Nelson).
Review – Stone Delicious IPA vs F+B
Tucked inside the 12 Days of IPAs variety box from Stone Brewing was the new Features+Benefits “healthy IPA”, so today, let’s taste that vs their Gluten-reduced IPA, Delicious and see which comes out on top…
Delicious– nice fruit aroma and taste. Fruit punch comes to mind. Very crisp and bitey. Some pine in here as well.
F+B – Super light and bright yellow. Pretty watery. Has a big cat pee aroma to it. Has quite a bit of bitterness. Lemon notes as well.
This is a no brainer to me. Delicious wins by a country mile. It maybe gluten reduced but it tastes like a full bodied session IPA.