By adding extra hops to their ales to preserve its qualities
for the long journey to India the English inadvertently invented the IPA. A
century later, the Americans added even more hops to this IPA style and
produced an IPA flavour detonation that plonked their craft beer industry firmly
on the world map. Then they supersized it and called it a double IPA.
San Diego is reputably
"America's Craft Beer Capital" and one of its early craft beer pioneers
is Ballast Point. These are the guys who built the San Diego IPA reputation
with their ‘Big Eye’. They should have given
it a big Pee and Aye as well as this brew is the quintessential American IPA. Shiploads
of pungent American citrus and tropical hop flavors, finishing off with a tongue
buckling bitterness.
If citrus hops
tickle your fancy then the Ballast Point ‘Grapefruit Sculpin’ is the bomb. This
brew explodes with orange-rind and grapefruit hop haemorrhage and tastes like a
cold marmalade bath on a hot tropical summer s night.
But wait, there’s
more. Just as Wellington challenges Nelson as the craft beer capital, so too
does Portland Oregon challenge San Diego as their country’s craft beer capital.
Portland has been named a beer lovers paradise with a whopping 31 breweries making
for a hell of a brewery tour. Two prominent examples are Gigantic Brewing and
Pelican brewing.
Pelican brew a
spicy little ‘Red Lantern IPA’ at 6.4%. The Red means rye and rye gives
smoothness on the palette and a complexity of taste with a touch of spicy heat increasing
the sharpness of its piney hops. The delicate caramel malt results in a
satisfying refreshing cricket watcher.
Gigantic Brewing brew
an IPA which they level headedly call IPA. This brew is like a baby faced
assassin. It’s non-aggressive in bitterness with an even confluence of hops between
citrus and pine and is very easy drinking.
However, its 7.3% will slap you in the face just when you least expect
it.
For sheer hopulence, it’s hard to go past a West Coast
American IPA.
Denis cuddly beer Cooper
