Angel City IPA

Brewed by Angel City Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Torrance, California USA

Lucky Baldwin’s IPA Festival 2005

Mildly hazed orangey hue. Slightly yeasty, fruity aroma. Sweet fruity malt palate, mild yeast, moderate lingering bitterness.

Mostly clear copper body with a thin layer of off-white foam floating atop. An interesting, hoppy aroma of earthy floral perfume, light pine, caramel, whole grains, lemon zest, fresh grass and and a hint of grapefruit. The body is fairly full and robust, with good heft on the tongue. The flavor is decent, with fairly nice balance. The sweet caramel, whole grains, and English-style hop bitterness are pretty enjoyable. Maybe it’s my jaded American experience with lots of Dreadnaught and Ruinination, but this just do much for me. I think it’s a fairly decent--and is probably a well made--beer, but it’s not the best hedonistic experience for me.

22oz. bottle. Bright orange with yellow tinges. Tall white rocky head. Soapy applejuice aroma. Rather acetic malt flavor dominates, some muted resinous bitter hops. Ruddy, almost burnt caramel flavors in the finish, with some residual sourness. Mouthfeel is medium, somewhat dry. Possibly infected from the suprising flavors.

Bomber pours out hazy copper – orange with off white head. The aroma seems somewhat Belgian like with yeasty spice mixed with lime, sour green grapes and a hint of malt sweetness. The taste starts tart with lemon, lime and under ripe grapes followed by tart grapefruit rind. A faint malt sweetness wells up at one point but doesn’t do anything to stave off the citrusy bitterness. Maybe this bottle has just started to sour. If it is meant to taste like this then I really didn’t care for it too much.

On tap; for the style this is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Aroma was light; some fruit and citrus. Color was amber/copper. Flavor was very bland and there was not much hopping to speak of. Bready and earthy mostly, with some yeast. How can I like there pale lager better than the IPA?

Bottle. Orange pour with gold tinge. Some citrus hops in the aroma, but some kinda spoiled / earthy english malt dominates the aroma. This same slightly nasty malt is in the flavor, along with a small amount of bittering hops.

650ml bottle from Bev4less in Santee. Pours a pours a translucent copper-gold color with a big sudsy white head. The lasted a long while and left good lacing. The aroma was moderate in strength with plenty of pepper spice and a bit of sweet biscuit. The flavor was very hops forward (as an IPA should be). Besides biter hops, there is a fair amount of biscuit, sour grapefruit, and white pepper. The mouthfeel is full, malty and smooth. The finish is long with a lingering sour note. Overall: Not my favorite IPA, the sour flavor seemed out of place here. Not recommended.

2oz bomber-Aroma of citrus on a light amber body with a head that retains itself pretty well. Taste of citrus with hops on the backend with a grapefruit taste in the middle.