I have reviewed this once before, but I wanted to revisit because of my strong suspicion that it was older and rather stale by the time I opened it. In the interest of doing a more fair review, I have selected a bottle that was bottled this month, released last week, and should therefore be pretty darn fresh.
Port says of Hop 15: "First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby as a celebration of 15 years of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer.”
Hop 15 has 15 different hop varieties added to the beer every 15 minutes. Over the years, Hop 15 has racked up numerous accolades. It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival. It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and 2008, and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA."
As I mentioned previously, this is labeled a DIPA at 9.7-10% ABV. It's a "seasonal" or rotating release according to their website, and it does tend to disappear from shelves fairly quickly (the stale bottle I had last time was my own fault, as I let it sit in the fridge too long. I have since learned my lesson and do not commit such crimes against IPAs any longer.) Port/Lost Abbey beers have scattered limited distribution around the US, so if you're lucky enough to see fresh Port IPAs on the shelves, they're generally great quality, relatively inexpensive, and overall worth a purchase. Now -- on to the (re-)review.
Appearance: What I wrote before applies: "This beer has tons of visible carbonation, with about 2-3 fingers of head that leaves tons of sticky lacing on the glass. It is darkly honey colored."
Smell: Ah, now this is much better -- extremely dank and resinous, with notes of citrus (particularly pineapple.) Pine is most upfront of everything, though. Very different from the flowery/sweet smell and taste of the stale version.
Taste: Some citrus and tropical fruit, but still mostly dominated by sticky pine and grass. Having had a fresh version and a stale version, I now appreciate the malt backbone that was more predominant earlier, as it lends a balance to this beer that prevents the huge hop character from getting too sharp and medicinal.
Mouthfeel: Pretty big and thick, with moderate carbonation. It's pretty heavy overall. I like a slightly lighter or more dry mouthfeel, but it's not a dealbreaker.
Overall: I'm glad I came back to this, as this really is a great DIPA and my review did not do it justice before. It definitely falls into that typical West Coast style of bold hop flavors and (when fresh) a barely perceptible malt base. Next in the freshness quest is probably to try it on tap! So this gets bumped up a full point from last time.
4/5
Port says of Hop 15: "First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby as a celebration of 15 years of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer.”
Hop 15 has 15 different hop varieties added to the beer every 15 minutes. Over the years, Hop 15 has racked up numerous accolades. It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival. It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and 2008, and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA."
As I mentioned previously, this is labeled a DIPA at 9.7-10% ABV. It's a "seasonal" or rotating release according to their website, and it does tend to disappear from shelves fairly quickly (the stale bottle I had last time was my own fault, as I let it sit in the fridge too long. I have since learned my lesson and do not commit such crimes against IPAs any longer.) Port/Lost Abbey beers have scattered limited distribution around the US, so if you're lucky enough to see fresh Port IPAs on the shelves, they're generally great quality, relatively inexpensive, and overall worth a purchase. Now -- on to the (re-)review.
Appearance: What I wrote before applies: "This beer has tons of visible carbonation, with about 2-3 fingers of head that leaves tons of sticky lacing on the glass. It is darkly honey colored."
Smell: Ah, now this is much better -- extremely dank and resinous, with notes of citrus (particularly pineapple.) Pine is most upfront of everything, though. Very different from the flowery/sweet smell and taste of the stale version.
Taste: Some citrus and tropical fruit, but still mostly dominated by sticky pine and grass. Having had a fresh version and a stale version, I now appreciate the malt backbone that was more predominant earlier, as it lends a balance to this beer that prevents the huge hop character from getting too sharp and medicinal.
Mouthfeel: Pretty big and thick, with moderate carbonation. It's pretty heavy overall. I like a slightly lighter or more dry mouthfeel, but it's not a dealbreaker.
Overall: I'm glad I came back to this, as this really is a great DIPA and my review did not do it justice before. It definitely falls into that typical West Coast style of bold hop flavors and (when fresh) a barely perceptible malt base. Next in the freshness quest is probably to try it on tap! So this gets bumped up a full point from last time.
4/5
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