Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Marcos, California USA

22 oz bottle thanks to a trade with lb4lb. Pours a hazy orange with a beige head. Nose and flavor show that it is very fresh. Juicy hops, lots of fruit. Grapefruit, tangerine, pine, lemon citrus, caramel. With a juicy hop bite that finishes floral/piney. A little sweet but balanced well. Really refreshing. 8/4/8/4/15 = 3.9

Bottle from Kan Presents: Fresh Hops - a blind tasting. Pours a clear yellow hay color with a white soapy head. Fresh aroma, citrus, juicy floral hops. Pale malts, citrus, grapefruit, with pine and grassy. Bitterness that is grassy and tasty. 8/3/8/3/15 = 3.7

Bottle from Capones, Sampled with Stegosaurus. A hazy orange pour with a definite up front hop aroma followed with some citrusy notes. A mild malty taste followed but floral pine. A little thin in the mouth but balanced ok. I enjoyed it.

22oz, no date. Hops up front include grapefruit rinds, spicy Chinook, and then a bit of grass in the background with a little bit of sweet caramel. Clear pale golden with a one finger creamy off-white head, pretty decent retention. Flavor has lots of grapefruit rind and tangerine up front with some bitter pine needles. Still present is the caramel, though the hops clearly are the highlight. Bitterness peaks around a 6, and though it does linger, the sweetness from the caramel malts keeps it at bay for the most part. The body is somewhat creamy, but would have been better if the body were a tad fuller. Moderate to light carbonation. Good stuff.

Bottle from bucknaked. Cloudy pale body with a small white head. Lots of citrus and floral hops in the nose with light sweetness. The flavor is cotton candy, light bread, grapefruit and tangerine. Medium body is round with moderate carbonation. Very nice.

Strong piney hop flavor. Quite a bit of sticky resin all over the palate. Bitter everywhere. Impressively bittered. Harsh and abrasive, in a good way; that’s chinook for you. Still sweet, but all the malt flavor seems to be really watery and light. Hop bitterness is there, but flavor is faded. It is december, so freshness may be an issue. Surprisingly none of the grassy flavor I expected from a fresh hopped beer. Interesting balance of hops and light malt make it a light, refreshing, flavorful hop bomb. This bottle seems perhaps slightly undercarbonated. It was overfilled, so that would make sense.

22. Pours crystal clear medium gold with a towering, fluffy platinum blonde head. Ample puffy lace. Light spicy piney hops on the nose--you really have to dig for them, though. It’s already almost December...gotta suppose that this is an old bottle and that 8 weeks ago, especially if it were in SD, this would have rated 15-20% higher. Probably 15-20% higher across the board, actually. Medium, fairly flat body. Not much happening on the mid-palate; some sweet pine and maybe a dab of caramel with some clingy resin for the finish. Count this one as the letdown of the week.

Cloudy orange, big foamy whiate head. Big sticky piney resiny hop nose. Huge hop flavors up front, nice mix of citrusy grapefruit and resiny spruce. Very earthy, sticky, and long aftertaste.

22 oz. bottle - big white head; yellow body and slightly carbonated upon pouring; killer nose that is big time hops; too bitter though as its missing the thick malt flavors of the wipeout