Pizza Port Hop 15

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Marcos, California USA

Bottle shared with Hogtown Harry, Blankboy, GregClow, Mabel, and Jerc, courtesy of blankboy. Nice hops aroma - very strong, oily, and resiny. Nice dark hazy orange, small white head. Very strong hop taste, syrupy, oily and lots of alcohol (and hop) burn. Packed full of flavour with enough malt behind it, but I found it a tad harsh, which is odd since these things usually blow me away. A very good beer with a few rough edges.

Growler: Pours a nice rusty orange color, cloudy with a thick tan head that laces. Very aromatic. Huge hop notes of orange, pine, light perfume hints and mint. The amazing malt depth balances the hop monster. Has a toasted bread characteristics & buttery toffee that blend perfectly with hop notes of orange-rind, peach, and pine needles. Finish is long smooth and bitter. An outstanding and balanced IIPA.

Bottle: Courtesy of Sick_boy282 via trade. Excellent citrus hop aroma with some hints of caramel. Pours a cloudy reddish-orange (no transparency) with a yellowish off-white head and. Very nice lacing. Lots of sweetness up front. A malty caramel backbone with some hints of sugar. Hints of tartness in the background. Big citrus hop finish which is definitely needed for the balance. Nice somewhat creamy mouthfeel. Tastes big and feels big.

Appearance: Pours a lightly hazy, amber body with a creamy-looking, white head. Smell: Fruity, citrusy floral, unquestionably tropical hop aroma encompassing a sweet-scented malt base. Taste: Sweet, surprisingly sweet, pale maltiness. Hmm, it’s candyish even. Expressive hop flavors of pine resin, grapefruit pith, orange blossoms, and lemon zest. The bitterness is somewhat restrained for a DIPA, medium at best. Light touches of alcohol throughout; their noticeable, but not bothersome. Finishes bittersweet. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is, I’ll freely admit, a bit sticky. Drinkability: A fairly easy-going, downright refreshing DIPA. Not at all the non-abrasive hop character I’d expect from a beer utilizing 15 different hops. Maybe 4½-6. The hop bitterness was so, well... mild, that I’m left wondering if this bottle is perhaps past its prime. However, as there are no freshness dates on the bottle that I can make out, the question can’t be sufficiently answered. I’ll make a mental note to revisit this one down the road.

Sampled at the Tosa tasting. Aroma: massive grapefruit hoppiness, fresh oranges. Appearance: copper color, thick milky frothy offwhite head. EXCELLENT lacing. Decent carbonation. Flavor: Oranges, sweet maltiness, grapefruit. Palate: Sweet. Light stickiness. Good carbonation. Hand bottle: #204. Overall: This is a MUST try.

Bottle pours dark caramel, rather murky, small off-white dishwater like head that quickly resides to just a small film, virtually no carbonation, with very fine bubbled lacing.   Aroma is quite grapefruity, with notes of caramel and hops.   A very sweet tangy hop flavor glides over the tongue when first sipped.   Surprisingly not all that bitter.   Fairly smooth for a Double IPA.   Nice body, slightly velvety mouthfeel.   The lack of carbonation probably adds to the mouthfeel.   Finishes rather sweet, caramel with a very light hop bite, and some spruce and/or pine in the aftertaste.   The 10.5% ABV is dangerously well hidden.   This one was quite a treat, a complete dessert beer!  Thanks goes out to herbjones for the trade!

From bottle courtesy of Naka. Rubbery band-aid hoppy, with ozone, orange-peel, cat urine. Strong musky funky hop juice. Hazy orange amber with thin off-white head. Medium-heavy body with meidum carbonation, alcohol warming. Starts sweet with a lot of brown sugar and hop juice. Really a nice IIPA, with bittering through and through. Great bitter finish and brown sugar ending. I’ve run out of words at this point, but this is a really good IIPA. Thanks to Naka for sharing.

Tap @ Papago. A sweet malt and fuit mix on the nose. Dark amber body with small head. Had a good sweet juicey body. Dry grapfruit and medium bitterness. An alcohol warming effect. Tihs alcohol hop count will get you, man at some point the forehead was getting heavy glad my knoggin stayed on my shoulders.