Pizza Port Hop 15

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

On tap at Stone; one of the better beers I had there. Flavor was nice and hoppy, with some complexity and had nice flavor of citrus and pine, with some nice caramel balance. The hops are definitely the star of the show. Found it at least as good as Pliny the Elder. (Re-rated from a bottle. Smell was fantastic, better than I remembered and maybe the best aroma of any beer I have had; grapefruit and citrus with a candy/brown sugar vibe to it. Hops were as assertive as I remember. Just a fantastic beer. Bumped it up a bit).

Rating #1 Tap @ the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival (7 5 8 4 17). Deep amber with lots of rising bubbles and a lush tan head. My first beer of the festival and I’m pumped. Full body, slightly sticky. Citrus and loads of hops with some candy. Rating #2 Bottle (8 3 7 4 17). A cloudy orange peach color with a thin off-white head. A strong intense grapefruit and pine resinous aroma. Full bodied and oily with a semi-sweet, bitter, grassy, pine and citrus flavor.

0.65 l bottle at Konttori, Tampere. Orange color with creamy head. Sweet and hoppy aroma with pine, lemon, orange, grapefruit and mango. Very hoppy bittersweet flavor with pine, grapefruit, lemon and menthol. Fair amount of sweet chewy maltiness also but it does not mask the hops. Excellent pungent hop character.

Huge props to Eyedrinkale, who included this as a BONUS bottle in a trade. What a treat! Bottle #370. Poured a ruby red grapefruit color, just a trace of a head. The aroma was obvious before my nose got anywhere close to the glass. Grapefruit initially, followed by apple pie, then spruce. The initial bitterness is almost overwhelming, like sucking on aspirin. But as my tongue was beaten into submission, layers of complex hop flavors emerged; grapefruit, earth, and above all else, pine. This is surprisingly malty, but there is no doubt about it, this is one of the most intensely hopped beers I've ever encountered, in the same realm as the 120 minute, minus the ethanol burn. Quite interesting, but not for the faint-hearted.

4 ounce sample at Bistro’s IIPA Fest. 4th IIPA rated of the festival. Pretty hempy, orangey, lightly piney hopped nose. Rather aromatic and quite pleasant. Mildly hazy orangey-copper colored body with a small off-white head. Sweet, sugary, malty start. Becomes more hopped with some big citrus orange notes as well as some hempy hops and some earthy hops. Finishes with some harsh, bitter, grapefruit flavors. The finish on this is a bit harsh and unbalanced, but not to the point where it detracts from the beer. Ethanol, like the other three beers I rated was well-hidden.

09.29.05 GABF Dark gold color. Lots of pinesol and citrus on nose, grapefruit. More of the giant citrus fruit all over the palate, pithy. Delicious like grapefruit candy or Fresca. Unctuous yet fairly effy. This could get me in trouble.

GABF 2005 and a pint at the Falling Rock. Deep golden straw body with a filmy, just off-white head. Amazing, fully rendered hop goodness in the aroma. Nice diverse hop flavors with an aggressively bitter and abusive finish... but in a very good way. Stands out in a crowd that is difficult to stand out in. I’m an advocate of hop blends and this is Exhibit A (albeit an extreme exhibit).

Orange color with a nice citrus hop nose. Smooth with orange citrus flavor and some malt.