Ding Points: 81.50
Pour: 90, Nose: 80, Palate: 80, Feel: 80, Global 80
Tasting Notes:
22 oz bottle, $7.99 form Smyrna World of Beverage, Smyrna, GA, USA. Bottled on 5/5/11 with an additional dot-matrixed ‘5212’ on the neck in yellow ink.
Shock, horror! This is a big, bold, hop-bomb without any excuses or any pretense. In many ways that is a plus, since the beer ‘does what it says on the can’ and that is an admirable trait and one which is too often neglected these days.
Lost Abbey/Port Brewing, Anniversary Ale
Pour is a very attractive, bright, orange body with plenty of highly pitted, white head. The retention and lace are not tremendous, but given the ABV it’s entirely excusable.
Nose and tastes come together in an utterly predictable (but authentic) manner. Alcohol and big, bold hop notes crash the party with abandon. The burn manifests itself quickly, but also mellows quite readily as well. Bitterness in the final throws and a biting pepper-like aftertaste. It’s all there, including the telltale hoppy burps that are induced with the beer. Burn in the chest also comes on strong (in true West Coast, DIPA fashion). Not much fruit here, but the beer seems relatively balanced (at least in terms of the style and what one can hope for). Lots of oily, hop resin elements but surprisingly not too astringent.
Strong brew that fits the profile of this type of beer nicely.
I need to be in the mood for this type of beer, but when I am this would be a good beer to fit the need. To be frank, it happens so infrequently that I never find myself really craving a big, hoppy DIPA, but on those rare occasions this would be a good candidate.
There it is, not much to report here other than what you would expect from a West Coast hop monster, but if you know what you are looking for, this is probably it.
Other: 10.0% ABV.
“I need to be in the mood for this type of beer, but when I am this would be a good beer to fit the need.” Same here.
Thankfully, I didn’t find it to be one of those “bitterness of bitterness sake” beers, ones that completely forget any semblance of malt balance and forgo any aromatic or flavoring hops, instead delving just into simple, straight bitterness alone.