Pizza Port Hop 15

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

Rerate22oz bottle, no date. Clear orange with slight reddish highlights and a fading light yellowish head, fairly creamy. Aroma of pine, perfumey floral hops, scorched caramel and light toast. I get a touch of alcohol as well. Flavor does add a bit of spicy and woody hop character, though I never did pick up on much of the citrus that the label states, nor from my previous rating. Strange. I think I originally thought this was an IPA (@ Naja’s). Oh wait, there it is. Some ripe oranges or tangerines, however faint, is definitely there towards the end of the swallow and the finish. Bitterness is around a 6-7 out of 10--mainly at the back corners of my tongue it’s fairly intense. Can’t really tell that it’s 10.5%, but I’d figure 8%. Medium body with light to moderate carbonation. Very nice IIPA. Old rating follows. Had this @ Naja’s after I drank Pliny the Younger, so this seemed to pale in comparison. I actually thought it was a 7% IPA at best. Clear orange golden with a frothy one finger light yellowish head. Aroma of passionfruit Skittles, oranges, pineapple, and some sweet toffee that reminds me of Dales Pale and Lake Louie Kiss the Lips IPA. Flavor was the same, somewhat astringent, and an earthy bitter dry finish. 6-7 on 1-10 scale for bitterness. The taste is a little fruitier than the aroma. Burps spicy oranges. Never would have guessed this at 10.5%. Moderate carbonation and a medium body. 7-4-7-3-14--3.5

Bomber. Translucent orange-brown with a small creamy disc of foam that laces the glass all the way down. Great nose of flowery honey, grapefruit and resin mix. Flavor is similar with some nice earthy leaf, orange marmalade, mint and peppery oak notes mixed in. Just a tad too much alcohol for my tastes on the finish, but otherwise outstanding. Medium body is smooth and slightly watery so as to make this one dangerously chuggable.

Bottle from Capones sampled with Mad_indian. Pours amber with a large fluffy beige head. Aroma of citrus, pine, and fruit. The flavor is Caramel malts, citrus, fruit, with just the right amount of hops to be blended beautifully.

Dirty brass trumpet colored. Huge rindy aroma. Packed with hops, but backed up well with rich and thick caramel-like malts that fought through 110ibu's just to be noticed. Superb ale!!

I went to Pizza Port (Solana) twice this weekend and ignored it the first time figuring this was nothing more than an empty bottle with a flag in it. The second time I inquired to find out it was available, and was only too glad to know that they were actually bottling. I got #234. It's kind of an IPA crashing into a barley wine. Pale amber brownish color, almost no foam. Strong hop aroma but after swirling the glass I get plenty of prune and raisin fruits. Complex multi-dimensional palate, sweet barley wine fruity intro, intense spice and bitter citrus from the hops in the finish, spicy jalapeno like aftertaste, and vanilla smoothness.

This beer started off with a very attractive orange pour, topped off with a nice fluffy white head. The nose was everything a hopaholic desires...big PNW hoppiness. Fairly substantial malt sweetness underneath anchoring the hugely bitter hop highlights above. One of the highlights of the Dark Lord Day for me!

On tap at the brewery. Pours a clear middle amber, with sparse bubbles in white around the rim. Aroma comes fast and furious with a sweet, clean orange hop mash. Sugar tooth to a hop character shaking with resins, freshness and candy. Perfusive and exploding. On the tongue, a beautiful hop bouquet, focusing on flavor, instead of the requisite bitteness marries with one of the most impressive malt bills of an IPA. There’s palpable chewiness in a tome of caramel, toast and malted sugars. The resins work so well with this base masterpiece and make this dangerously quaffable. Candied, cream, bright and alive. Maybe yearning for some of the bready spice fire that many in this style draw, but possibly unneccesary. Fantastic.

Courtesy SoLan. Growler. Pours a hazy, magnificent glowing reddish orange with almost no head. Small fizzy white bubbles hug the edges of the glass. Very floral hop aroma, some grapefruit mixed in as well. A little mild, but really lovely. The taste has a good amount of hops, a slightly bitter grapefruit flavor as well. Doesnt really attack you with hops, but they are still pretty profound. The finish and aftertaste were pleasantly sweet, more so in the aftertaste. Finishes smooth and has a nice slick mouthfeel. Very good.