Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA

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

Appearance: Pours a bright, clear yellow body with a white head. Smell: A spicy, floral aroma with notes of juicy pineapple and watered down honey. Taste: Thin, fleeting cereal sweetness with the taste of pears before the jarring bitterness and heavy acidity of the long, unpleasant finish. Mouthfeel: Thin-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Harsh and uninteresting.

22 ounce bottle shared by BBB63. Pours bright yellow/orange with some signs of white head. Orange/apricot/mango in the nose. Very fruity. Some nice grassy notes as well. Strong grassy flavor. Pleasant but lasting bitterness. Very clean flavors. Medium body with a light oily residue. Finishes dry. Very easy to drink. Very clean and unassuming.

Cloudy honey gold hue, with a white head, with some floties of lees swirling around, sweet peachy floral hop nose, from the centennial and chinook hops, with a nice herbal flowery hops, with some cedary and piney accents, hint of fruity citrusy, with a toasted malt note in the aroma follows through on medium-bodied palate, with a crisp flowery hop pineyness character, with some cedary, leafiness notes, with a peachy, orange zest fruitiness, hint of hop mintiness, with some caramelized and toasted malts, leading towards a good cedary, leafy hop bittering finish.

Aroma:full hops flavor,grapefruit,orange juice,pine hops... Appearance:light hazy gold,very good head.. Flavor:very hopy flavor,orange juice,pine and grapefruit hops...

Hazy yellow/gold, light white head, nice lacing. Nose of a full hop bouquet, lots of pine, grapefruit and citrusy dry hops. San Diego Pale Ale! I love that term. The flavor is very plain yet tasty, lots of dry hop, semi-sweet 2-row pale malt. Finishes with lots of grapefruit and light dry malt and alcohol. Just like a real grapefruit I guess.

Version with Centennial and Simcoe:
-A distinctive Simcoe sandy aroma grows through citrusy fruitiness.
-I don’t know if the few months have taken their toll (this bottle is now 4 months old), but hop flavors are evenly spread out, enhancing the aroma, flavor profile and finale equally. I prefer this to an overly brash bitterness.
-Again, this is not one for the malts, but they do support rather nicely.
-This one is more drinkable and feels more natural (a little yeastier perhaps) and more relaxed than the previous version.
Bottle (3.6/5); no date.

Version with Centennial and Chinook:
My Bottom Line:
High flying citrusy, floral hoppiness twists and turns atop the even greater leafy, bitter hop deposit. This well-malted yet unbalanced West Coast IPA is quite simply an unadulterated, unabashed hop potion.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A clinging cloak of foam tops the hazy beige golden.
-The biscuity, honeyed maltiness forms a great body, but doesn’t offer much flavor.
-Hop bitterness is loooong and brash, making the beer lose a parcel of drinkability for me (although it later fit a vindaloo curry quite nicely).
-This must have been seriously pungent upon release last fall(?).
Bottle (3.5/5); no date.

From a 22 oz. bomber bottle with no bottling/freshness date, a blurb along the left side of label, sampled at cellar temperature in an imperial pint glass. Poured a unfiltered cloudy orangey golden with a frothy, foamy white head, good retention, minimal amount of sticking. A hoppy nose, softer than I was expecting, floral, piney and citric, a tad musty, with a light backing of grainy, bready malts, traces of butter as well. Good medium carbonation and a crisp, dry, mildly hop slick, smooth medium bodied mouthfeel. Pleasant, easy drinkability, relaxed hoppy taste with a soft, dry rind bitterness, grainy malts and a touch of butter, the alcohol meshes with the hops for a soft spicy warmth, the hops are also oily in the finish, a grainy, hop fruity, oily finish. Not a bad IPA, but I have a feeling I should have purchased this last fall when it was fresh.

Was concerned originally thinking this was a 8 month old IPA, maybe it was, but it still rocked my world. Very aromatic, citrusy and fruity. Golden color, with a full white head. I usually don’t like wet hop beers, they’re usually too grassy and herbal for me, but this example definately avoids that and concentrates mainly on citrusy, grapefruit like hop flavors. There is still a little grass. Port/Lost Abbey is really doing some spectacular things.