Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Diego, California USA

22 oz bottle. Very pale, slightly hazy golden/orange brew with a creamy white head. Intense simcoe hop aroma. A bit of light tangerine and grapefruit aroma behind the piny notes on the front. As it warms, some soft spiciness begins to show up. Malts are bright and lean with a bit of light wheatiness as well. Hoppy flavour, simcoe pine, a bit of juicy mango, citrus and fresh cut pineapple. There is also a touch of soft resinousness. Bitterness is fairly light, but the hops are sweet and flavourful. A bit of soapiness as the beer starts to warm up. When fresh, I bet this was incredible. It’s starting to fade, but it’s still an excellent IIPA.

Bottle via realale420. Pours bright golden orange color with a medium sized, dense, off white head. Aroma is wonderful, floral hops, citrus, pine, mango. Flavor is caramel, biscuits, pine, mango, grapefruit. Palate is full bodied, medium carbonation, bitter finish. This was a real treat! Very solid brew!!

Bottle and served in my GI IPA Tulip: Pours a Pacific Ocean bright copper sunset topped by a wonderful layer of foam and left a fair amount a tearful lacing on the glassware.

The nose detected of pungent use of resin hops with the piney, clove, mango and grapefruity esters. Also some herbal vapors, caramel and biscuity malts dancing about the rim of the glass.

The taste is right where you expect it with a heavy-handed dose of leafy and fresh hop bitterness in tune with an citric overdrive. The malt are there but strictly a second fiddle player. The finish is clove and pepper imbued with a smack down of mind numbing alcohol snap. The overall mouth feel is medium-bodied, sharp and biting, astringent and metallic with the alcohol warming noted above.

This is one solid brew that sticks to a plan and executes it very well. If you like your big hoppy beers with a notable citric character, than this is your nirvana.

Bottle. Amber colour with a fizzy white head. Lovely aroma of caramel, and a lot of hops. Nice hoppy flavour with notes of caramel, melon and citrus. Ends up sweet and bitter, I love it.

Love the wave of citrus hop that hits your nose on the better DIPA’s like this one does,some grininess with caramel backing, ,head seemed to disappear a little to quickly, more of a balanced flavor then most,tangy citrus hop and caramel,toffeeish malt, settling into a hoppy bitterness,a little lighter body then others and I do prefer the heavier ones, but one of the most tastey balanced DIPA’s I’ve had

Bomber pours a chillhazed orange amber body topped by a creamy offwhite head that leaves clingy patch lacing on the glass. Bold hop aromas of pine, grass, citrus and tropical fruits. Subtle caramel notes underneath. Taste has a solid caramel malt backbone which supports a tasty melange of tropical fruitiness. Very well balanced, with a sweetness that is not intrusive. Finishes with a pleasant citrus rind bitterness that follows into the aftertaste. Excellent DIPA that isn’t as hopcentric as most of the westcoast examples I’ve recently sampled.

My favorite beer of all time (not including my homebrew of course). Available via cask (at least the night i was there) at the linkery in san diego. Entire table agreed that this was heaven on earth. cask moderated some of the intensity and added a smoother more robust finish lacking in some san diego ipa’s. The grapefruit intensity of the hops was mellowed by the cask and was delightful to smell in a balloon wine glass.

Bottle. Orange-hazy pour with an off white head. Citrus and grass come out in front in the aroma backed with some caramel malt. The flavor was between floral and grassy hops...some citrus notes as well...light malt. Medium body with a slightly bitter finish. Pretty decent.