Port Brewing Hop 15

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

22 oz bomber. Pours a cloudy orange caramel with a medium white-beige head. Intense west coast pine and grapefruit aroma with a hint of pineapple. Taste is very hoppy with strong notes of pine, grapefruit, caramel, orange with a slight alcoholic finish. Very piney. Superb.

UPDATED: JUL 31, 2004 (Draft & 750 ml bottle: O'Brien's in San Diego, CA) This 2IPA is superb and really more a barleywine; Malty, very sweet, high in alcohol, but balanced by a very strong hoppy bitterness with lots of grapefruit, especially in the long lasting finish; Great, hoppy nose with loads of sweet malt aroma too; Thick, sticky palate; Dark ruddy amber in color; On draft, there is a light tan head with average retention and rings of patchy lacing, but out of the bottle, there is no head, just a few large bubbles that dissipate immediately; One of Port Solana's best!

Bottle courtesy of Irishboy. Thanks! Pours beautiful and cheddary orange; nice and thick, with plenty of head. My nose detects abundant amounts of apricot, pine, and orange. Wow! Flavor is an atomic bomb of sour goodness: hops, grapefruit, orange, apricot, pine; it’s all here in spades. Coats the tongue nicely and leaves a lingering tartness. Utterly incredible IIPA. Fantastic. Send more, please!!!

Sampled at the Tosa tasting. Aroma: massive grapefruit hoppiness, fresh oranges. Appearance: copper color, thick milky frothy offwhite head. EXCELLENT lacing. Decent carbonation. Flavor: Oranges, sweet maltiness, grapefruit. Palate: Sweet. Light stickiness. Good carbonation. Hand bottle: #204. Overall: This is a MUST try.

Draft at Solana Beach. Enjoyed in the company of Buck Dich and DarkElf and friends. Tried this on cask and on tap. Much prefered the tap. The cask was much smoother as expected, but it really toned down the hop flavors. Aromas were very citrusy hoppy. Sweetness in there too. Flavors were great as well with a lot of hops in there as well. Talk about a hop bomb. Great stuff.

Couleur cuivrée tirant vers le brun aux reflets rougeâtres. Énorme mousse crémeuse adhérant bien à la paroi du verre. Une puissante explosion de saveur s’offre à nous. Une symphonie de houblon joue en tandem avec un concertos de malt sucré…Résines de houblons, écorce d’orange et conifères débordant de sève sont en avant-plan et offrent les parfait accords de soutient aux saveurs de gâteaux à la vanille, de sucre à la crème, de toffee et de raisins caramélisés…puis arrive le mordant d’alcool finale. Tout est tellement intense et puissant, c’est comme mettre l’amplificateur Marshall des saveurs à 11. Texture en bouche tout simplement parfaite, crémeuse et veloutée, carbonatation offrant le parfait support du début à la fin. A la fois une référence en terme de double IPA ainsi qu’une création des plus originale.

nice fresh bottle, great stuff. taste like a very hoppy ipa, the alcohol is very well hidden on this fresh. very light going down, a good bitter taste but not too astringent, not too drying on the palate, very mild overall for the abv. there is still a pliny like blast of hops on first contact and the smell of course, but even that is fairly soft for what it is. its balanced extremely well, has a creamy mouthfeel, and goes down a lil too quickly. make sure this is fresh when you get it!

9/4/9/5/18 - Bottle from Capone’s (also just got a pair from Naven - thanks!!!) Nice golden color with a small-medium head. Aroma is an incredible bouquet of freshly cut piney-citrus hops. Lots of sweetness coming through my nasal passages. Flavor is a sweet mix of citrusy-piney-floral hops with just enough malt to make it all OK. Emphasis is on the hops - this one finishes nice with great mouthfeel. This guy is really what DIPAs should strive to be.