El Toro Deuce

Brewed by El Toro Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Morgan Hill, California USA

Pours amber with no real head. Aroma is very fresh, hoppy in a pine sort of way. The key word here is fresh- if you’ve ever broken open a freshly picked hop cone right off the vine and smelled the aroma- thats exactly what this brew smells like. This is a fantastic IIPA. Surprisingly drinkable. Alcohol is not apparent at all. Almost enough malt to balance the potent bitterness. Nice medium body coats the mouth. The bitterness sticks for a while just like it should. Beautiful.

Tasted at the 5th Annual Bistro 2XIPA Fest. Light to medium orange gold color. Small head. Aroma is fruity and sweet. A medium bodied Imperial IPA. Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are grapefruity and piney. Fairly bitter IPA, there is a bit hop bite in this beer. Nicely balanced. Fairly smooth taste for all that bitterness (100+ IBU). Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Draft. Deep orange-amber color with a good off-white head. Huge grapefruit aroma. Flavors of grapefruit, good not-overpowering malt backbone, some pine tar, some caramel. Nice lingering bitterness and good mouthfeel. This one’s not going to overpower, but it’s not harsh and is well crafted.

Slightly cloudy orange coloured body with a nice dense white head that lasts long. Aroma of pure cascade hops with little else-nice and strong! Medium-bodied; Super strong piney & citrus hops in the taste with a nice malt backbone. Aftertaste bittered from the strong hops-VERY nice! Overall, one of the best west coast ipa’s i’ve had, and a real treat to sample it with the desired method in a fun bar! I sampled this pint from draught at Toronado in San Francisco, California on the second day of 10-June-2004...our first was spent in Sydney, Australia.

Had this right after old pligny at toronados: Pours a deep amber with a mild aroma of hops. Small head and little lacing. Very boring for this or any style. Medium bodied. The malts actually outweight the hops. Not bitter enough at all. Very boring.

[rerate needed] On draft @ the Toronado. Medium yellow color, huge amount of lacing. Buttery nose with wood and milk, the flavor has a little butter, but it’s still nice. Sweet vanilla nose, kinda weird. Very good bitterness, not cloying, just a nice even buzz of hop bitterness like a DIPA should have.

(Draft: Toronado in San Francisco, CA) This is a solid 2IPA, fairly malty and sweet, but with a very strong hops component; Big, bitter grapefruit flavor in the finish; Medium to full bodied with a slightly sticky mouthfeel early that is balanced and cleared in the finish by the strong hops component; Piney, hoppy nose is excellent; Light amber color; Off-white head has good retention and leaves lots of patchy lacing

Cloudy, orange-copper body with a very long lasting, creamy, cotton-clored head. Smells of pine cones and needles, a little citrusy lemon. Big sweet taste is pineapple, papaya, pinecones. Leaves a bitter-hop finish. Really good. God bless california agressively hopped IPA’s!