El Toro IPA

Brewed by El Toro Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Morgan Hill, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

I went on a very long road trip through the whole west coast and this was the best IPA I tried. Pours a deep amber with a great frothy head. Lots of lacing, even two layered. Aroma of cascade, maybe centennial. Medium bodied with a very full hop flavor. The bitterness is an afterthought but man is it there. This is far more flavorful and bitter than there "Deuce". A great IPA!

UPDATED: DEC 5, 2003 Third time's a charm, after tasting some of the big boy IPAs on the top 50. This is as good. Rerate: 6/17/02: This thing is creamy. Huge lasting compact head, more subtle than the Stone IPA in a direct comparison this evening, way more malt underneath it. Warms a little differently, too, as a result. Fuller-bodied but not cloying. This is the 'Guinness on tap' type of creaminess. Excellent. Original: 4/22/02: I am very impressed. Positively delicate compared to many IPAs I've had. I would recommend this one to any newbie (like me) who has trouble handling the big hops. The sweetness in the aroma and real deep down in the taste FINALLY opened my eyes to what IPAs are all about. I've never sensed that before. Wow. Took forever, guys. I feel like an idiot.

Bottle from IrishBoy. I saved the IPA for last out of the bottles he sent me for Terrapin Moster Beers. Orange color. With a thick creamy froth of a head. Wonderful citrus, grapefruit hop aroma. A little pine sol, chemical, vinyl, earthiness as well. Strange aromas but powerful. Heavy hop bite in the finish. Mouthfeel bitterness just won’t go away. reminds me of RUINATION.

I smelled this and proclaimed Summit hops. I was wrong. Big juicy dank aroma, some pineapple and lemongrass. Clear gold, tall proud sticky white head. More gummy pineapple coupled with abrasive pine. Strongly bitter, with a long tingly finish. Medium bodied, no alcohol sting, just gooey hops.

El Toro is a brewery that has impressed me greatly ever since I had my first beer from them via beeronthewall.com. Sadly, I think that somehow these guys have gotten a ham-and-egger reputation, and subsequently have gotten far less respect than they deserve. At any rate, this one pours turbid orangy colored with a big, bold, 3-finger off-white head. Aroma is heavy hops, tropical and citrus fruit, including tangerine, pineapple, honeydew, plus black pepper and a decent caramel malt bill. It tastes very citric, floral, somewhat dry, with the tangerine and pineapple hoppy flavors dominating, and the malt perhaps taking a bit of a back seat, but never so much that the beer felt off balance to me. This is a true hop lovers dream, with solid complexity and a great mouthfeel.

Very attractive, magnifying copper with a 3/4" frothy orange-tinted head. Sweet aromatic assembly of hop bouquets, pineapples, ruby red grapefruit, orange-mango citrus cooler and a precursing bitter persona. Dry, chafing and far reaching bitterness titters with flavor contributions from papaya enzyme powder, freshly squeezed grapefruit and amarillo. Hints of citric oranges and mild amaretto join a dynamic combo of pine sap and freshly cut grass. Bold, medium-to-full mouth feel. Clinical balance expertise is exercised in all areas. Dry, palate scraping bitterness that lingers long into the night. Fantastic IPA.

Cloudy medium golden color with effervescing bubbles. It’s got a medium full aroma with citric notes. The flavor is medium full with a surprising and pleasant tang. Very well balanced with blended medium roast malt notes ringing very clear. This is very well done, solid IPA in a subdued and complex form of the monster West Coast IPA style. On the south side of San Jose, this is another soon-to-be-great NorCal brewery. Far more hits than misses with stellar contributions like Poppy Jasper.

UPDATED: SEP 7, 2005 Looks great when poured into a glass--darkish copper with a nice off-white head. Good lacing. Full and malty body with fabulous floral & citrus hopping. One of the best IPAs I have tried.