Pizza Port Frank Double IPA

Formerly brewed at Pizza Port (Carlsbad)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Carlsbad, California USA

2004 bottle, mailed to me on pure generosity by Footbalm! Thanks, Eric! Before even pouring, you can see that the bottle is lightly hazy. In a tulip glass, it appears very reddish-orange, with some peach/rose hues and a fleeting off-white head. Lightly hazy and not heavily filtered (thank god). Smells pretty standard; lightly toasted malt, some residual sugars, hints of caramel, highly floral hops (as opposed to heavy citrus). Flavor starts with fruity hops (juicy pear, apple, orange, peach) and a decent dose of dry caramel and toffee. So far so good. As I smell it now, more citrus is coming through than before. Lightly earthy notes break through as well, like hacking through thickly overgrown underbrush in the midst of the rainy season. It starts to get excessively bitter, but the sweet honey maltiness keeps it down. I won’t say my favorite Double IPA, but it is not terribly unbalanced and quite juicy and flavorful. Good if you are in the mood for hops.

Slightly cloudy, quite orange with large full off white head. Very strong hop presence in aroma. Floral hops are most present and welcome as is a nice grapefruit aroma on the second take. Sharp hop bitterness of the aromatic and citric variety. There is also a fairly fruity hoppiness that does is ballanced with a mild amount of malt. The hops finish with some resin and lingers nicely.

Pale orange color out of the bottle with a loose white head. Absolutely delicious aroma with lots of pineapple, mandarin orange and some fresh pine. Reminds me a little of the nose on a Dreadnaught. Just lots of hops in this all the way around. Resin, with lots of orange and grapefruit rind, and apple sauce and green pine needles. It assaults the tongue with its hoppiness, but is so dry that you must have the next sip very soon. There is enough malt in here to support most of the hops. Boy its been a while since I’ve had a IIPA, and this is a good one. Thanks to JohnC (jcalibre at the time) for sending me this treat.

Thanks to JohnC for hooking me up with this, awesome double IPA, hazy & somewhat cloudy appearance, light orange color, generous soft off-white head, nice lacing around the glass, huge hop aroma, but also had a very nice touch of malt as well, very floral & grassy nose, full-bodied, excellently balanced, the hops get your first in the flavors & body then a full assault of malt to back it all up, dry & bitter, very flavorful, very hoppy & dry finish & aftertaste, great imperial ipa

Smells like a hop plant - amazing nose that says "you’re in a hop field in Oregon..." Light yellow color and a fizzy head. High resolution hop flavor, of course, atop a thinish malt body. Wanted a stronger base, but the hop character on this is truly amazing. Like and dry like a martini that just evaporates in your mouth.

Poured hazy amber with a nice but quickly fading to film that left great lacing head...made my glass look like it was just pulled out of the soap rinse...smell is initially pine with that sweet Pine-Sol thing happening...then some sweet melons...maybe grapefruit too...great maltiness finished up by a big but not overwhelming tongue scraping on wool hops scratchiness...perhaps a touch of alcohol in the finish...my god this is perhaps one of the best IIPAs I have ever had!

Bright brilliant golden. Beautiful hop aroma. Some citrus, a bit of pine. I could smell this for hours, but why would I when I could be drinking it. Pow! Great zing of bitterness, intensely flavorful flowery hop charge. Malt is sweet enough to stand up to the hops, yet remains light enough to retain drinkability, never heavy. This is a rockstar DIPA. Thanks to Larry and Matt.

Thanks to JohnC for sending this! Gold color with just a bit of haze under a tall sticky head. Over the top hop aroma that filled the room as soon as the bottle was opened. Citrus and pine that is absolutely gorgeous! Smooth, with plenty of body. The flavor has just the right bitterness that goes from the start right to the finish, but not overly so, there is a supportive malt base here too. This head of the class brew is on an equal footing with the likes of Ruination, White Knuckle, Stoudt’s and Yulesmith.