Featured Review – Sunbather from Angel City

Angel City hasn’t done canning that I know of so it is interesting that they are starting with a Sour IPA, Sunbather. A beer canned right here in L.A.

I tried the kettle soured beer (from the tap) and was pleasantly surprised. It is not Sour but has a tang of tartness that allows for the Citra hops and particularly, the toast-centric malts to shine on through. This is the first of the series which will use a single, different hop each time.

It will be interesting to see which hop comes next. My bet is on Mosaic.

Tart and Bitter

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It was inevitable that IPA’s would collide with the other white hot trend of sours. I have seen (and tried) a couple attempts. Both were sour and citrus-y and quite good. Both were also not quite IPA’s in my mind.

To be fair, I am still not sold on Black IPA’s either and I have tried many different versions of that style.

But since New Belgium has had a bit of success, you could say, with their sour line-up and since they have also done well in the hop category, they are well positioned to make a Hop Tart.

Take it away, Mr. Press Release…..”Hop Tart is New Belgium’s latest Hop Kitchen offering, blending Belgian Pale Malt from the Colorado Malting Company, with tart lactobacillus and fruity hops.

Hop Tart’s lactobacillus offers just the slightest hint of sour that propels bursts of passion fruit, guava and pineapple, courtesy of hefty Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy and Experimental Hop 522 dry-hopping.”