Friday, August 19, 2011

Port Brewing - Hop 15

DIPA, 10% ABV


Appearance: 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: It smells strongly of hops, with hints of orange blossom and a slight sweetness and breadiness.

Taste: There is a definite hop bite when the beer first hits the palate, and a vague floral element is present throughout the body of the beer. The finish is mostly dominated by a strong malty backbone.

Mouthfeel: This is a thick beer in the mouth, with an almost sticky presence on the tongue. It's lightened mostly by the extra carbonation, but the sweet finish definitely assists with the thick quality of it.

Overall:  I wasn't a huge fan of this double IPA, but it's more likely due to my personal IPA preferences than to the quality of the beer itself. I prefer my IPAs to not have such a strong malty character, because I feel like it can overwhelm some of the more subtle characteristics that the hop varietals bring forth. That's what happened here -- I got plenty of hop bite, followed by plenty of sweetness, but any fruit and/or floral characteristics were completely lost on me. Though overall the beer was well-balanced between bitter and sweet, it wasn't as subtle and complex as other DIPAs I've had that I like better.

3/5

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