Pizza Port Hop 15

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

Draught. Body is murky dark amber. Aroma is heavily hoppy (grapefruit, resin). Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium to full body, creamy and velvety texture, lively carbonation. One-dimensional boring hop-only aroma, but fairly good flavor balance and mouthfeel for the style.

2 samples at the EBF and I wish I could’ve had more. Pale copper-amber with a nice lasting head and, unbelievably, fairly thick lacing in the crappy plastic cup....nose is redolent of white pepper, multitudes of hops spicy and pungent, fruity and woody....caramel and peaches keep it mellow enough for non-hopheads to want to still plunge on, to the flavor....gorgeously smooth despite the continuous hop assault, vanilla oakiness contending valiantly and successfully against massive citric acidity and resinous burning...warming alcohol, more pepper and a soupçon of Scotch whiskey peatiness....very clean, dry but long finish....memories of Dreadnaught are not diminished when I say that this is a near-equal masterpiece....hard to believe the alcohol, so drinkable and joyous it is.

Strong resin hop aroma. Also floral hop. Maybe some light citrus hop. Lots of hop. Hazy orange gold color with a white head that laced strangely. Medium to full body with caramel malt and lots of different hop. It is definitely malty, and it is surely well balanced. I can feel evergreen in my throat. The malt tends to slip away and the hop turns rather piney. Incredibly awesome.

Sampled at the Nooga. Sampled this a second time courtesy of hey_kevin. Poured a cloudy dark gold with a thick head. The aroma had rich flowers, toffee, pine and grapefruit. The taste had grapefruit, peanuts, some pine and a little bit of apples. A little confusing with all the hop varieties. Still, a solid double IPA. Sampled again at another tasting. Still a solid IIPA, but I wasn’t quite as impressed I will keep my old numbers.

Lychee, toffee, grapefruit, orange, pine, resin, caramel, lemon, pepper, vanilla aromas... something new with each sniff but all go together very well and despite the obvious hoppiness of the nose, no particular characteristic is dominant. Opaque amber-brown body is topped with a large, off white, fine bubbled head that recedes slowly to a lasting cover with plenty of intricate lacework. Lychee, pear, apricot fruit esters, caramelized strong, sweet malts and leafy, resinous, citrus-grapefruit hops amuse the tongue. Strong bitterness is very well balanced by incredible, thick, malty sweetness. Lively carbonation awakens the tastebuds. Full body is fairly dry in character despite obvious sweetness. Fair alcohol warming though alcohol is never apparent in flavour or nose. Bottle (marked #147 but no year apparent although I assume 2004 or 2005, trade, May-05) savoured with MartinT and Olivier_MTL. Thanks, DarkElf!!!

Hazy amber hue with good head and lace. Big hop presence on the nose, full pine and grapefruit, some wood and raosted malt also detected. The tatse was piney has expected with a bitter finish, while there was good malt undertone, it still wasn't fully balanced, but so what, enjoyable anyway. Lush yet aggressive mouthfeel. A big strong hoppy brew. If that's your thing, this is a beer to seek out.

Bottle at Toms Ultimate Glasgow Tasting ... Copper colour ... high american hop nose ... sweet lots of fruit ... lots of hop resins ... some pine tones ... good but not for me.

Bottle. Low creamy but lasting off-white head. Clear amber body. Hoppy fruity aroma with a touch of caramel and piney. Flavor more like grapefruit with a good shot of hops bitterness and again the pine needles are evident. Still it is not too much of a good thing as the fruity notes is very well balance with the hops and the high alcohol percentage really could have fooled me. Take care out there. Low carbonation and a long dry dusty and bitter aftertaste.