Pizza Port Hop 15

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

On Draught @ Pizza Port Solana Beach, California. I tasted this beer out of the bottle a few weeks ago but it was very old and in bad condition so I didn’t review it. I’m glad I was able to find it. Dark Orange. An incredible pure hoppiness in the aroma with hints of cherries, candied fruits, melon and honey. An extremely hoppy beer with an enormous hop bite and bitterness. Fifteen different varieties of hops seems extreme, although Bristol’s version is made with twenty-nine different varieties. The hop flavor is suprisingly well balanced and all in all, hard to identify but it is balanced by a gigantic honeyed fruit and caramel malt body. Intense and wonderful. A nice pint to end the night.

Wow what a great IIPA! I don’t know how the west coast does it, but damn is this a great and drinkable beer. Aroma was nice. Strong pine and citrus hops. Don’t get enough of the piney hops here in the northeast. Pour was a nice medium amber with a one finger off white head. Taste was a hop bomb that expertly balances just enough caramel and dark malt to keep it drinkable. The hops varied from citrus to pine needles, but dried the mouth out and left a strong bitterness on the tonsils. Outstanding beer.

Pour is a cloudy orange with no head at all. Aroma is some melon with some clean pine. Flavor starts out sweet then follows with some grapefruit and honey. An abundance of hoppyness is left on the tounge as this goes down. Alcohol is no where to be found which makes it all the more drinkable. A sweet but well made beer.

Draft at O’Briens, yee ha! Hazy amber with a creamy white head that lingers and leaves amazing glass coating lacing. Wow, nice sweet, rich malts, wonderful hoppiness with lots of grapefruit and pine. Flavor is delicious! Lots of sweet, thick maltiness and hoppy, hoppy, hoppy. Palate is thick and smooth. Wonderful double IPA, another winner from Pizza Port!

Decent sized fothy white head with good carbonation. Wonderful hoppy aroma with loads of cirus and tangerine aroma. Lots of hops and a bit of sweet malts. Very juicy and succulent. Color is a slightly hazy dark golden orange. Good amount of bitterness in the flavor but is rather well balanced. Some more caramel malts and citrus fruit. Some evergreen flavors in there also. Unfortunately I am rating this from memory so I can’t really do it justice. A damn fine IIPA and one worthy of being with the best of the best.

22oz bottle, cloudy amber hue, with a beige head, toasty malt, faint fruity candied orange, apricot, hop cedary, piney, resinous hoppy nose, with some toffee, caramel, spicy floral hop accents, with a minty, spuce aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a toasted, caramelized malt, flowery hop resinous character, with some leafy, piney, cedary, zesty, citrusy accents, with a spicy, minty, spruce note, leading towards a malty, hop piney, resiny bitterness finish.

Pours bright gold into a tulip. Fluffy white head leaves little lacing as it slowly recedes. Pine and citrus aromas. Creamy caramel, pine and citrus. Lasting bitter finish.

Initially, when pretty cold to cool, very pineappley - very sweet, heavily carmelized apple. The bitterness was apparent on my lips! Initial onslaught of pine and grapefruit slowly slides toward a little (only a little) more balance to some slightly detectable iron and vegetableyness. Still, insanely bitter and careens wildly into sweetness. Not all that malty but with huge residual hop particles (or so it seems).