Marin IPA Cask Conditioned

Draft at Toronado in San Fran. Pours a cloudy amber orange with thick creamy white head. Aroma is subdued hops, grapefruit, pineapple. Flavor is sweet malt and caramel up front, lots of fruit apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, pleasant bitterness in the finish. A very nice cask Ipa.

On tap at Toronado. Oh my, this is the pure essence of IPA. Stripped of the traditional carbonation, what remains is the residual hop nectar, and it is fantastic. The smell was delicious: fruity, piney...this is are fine IPA, made excellent by the traditional hand-pump serving mechanism. Lovely.

Cask at the brewery, 6.7%. Clear light amber with a lasting frothy head. the aroma has rich caramel, dough, and floral and citrus hop notes that are soft yet pungent if that makes any sense. The flavor starts out with bready and light caramel malt sweetness, then has plenty of grapefruit, pineapple, and some pine in a sticky and resiny hop profile. The bitterness is ample but has a soft profile that seems to come at least in part from the soft mouth-feel that the cask conditioning imparts. Medium bodied with low carbonation and a creamy texture. A great IPA that is bitter, but has a great soft feel to it and just enough malt balance to stand up to the hops.

I rated this last year and the entry was deleted, so I don’t expect this one to stick around either. Too bad, because this is an exceptional beer.

On tap at Toronado. Orange-brown color. Earthy hop aroma with pine and citrus. Taste is the same but amplified tremendously. The beer is amost chewey in your mouth and has good amount of malt to poost the flavor. A variety of hop flavors dance on the palate and linger for a long time. i am not a huge fan of Marin’s brews but this is a really great beer.