So as I continue to post about different beers, I continue to get sent beer from different breweries that may want to get there name mentioned more. Last week I recieved a package and was unsure of what it was until I opened the package up. Much to my surprise and enjoyment, the package contained two beers from Coronado Brewing Company in San Diego,Ca. One of the beers was the Stupid Stout which I will review after this one and the other beer is the one I will discuss in this post, which is Islander IPA.
So lets get started. This beer is brewed with a variety of hops and malts. The hops are the Chinook, Centennial, and the Columbus hops. The Columbus hop is a bittering hop that often gives the beer a hint of citrus. This is a big comparison to the Chinook hop. The chinook hop is one that gives the beer an aroma and palette of pine. This piney taste is often very distinguished in the beer that have the Chinook hop. The last hop that this beer is brewed with is the Centennial hop. The Centennial and Columbus hops are pretty similar. As the Centennial hop also gives the beer a citrusy aspect to the beer.
Even though the hops are the main feature of an IPA, that is not all that it is brewed with. There are also malts in this beer and the types of malts are 2-Row, Cara, and Munich. These are all very popular types of malts. These will add the bit of sweetness to the beer. They are more apparent in other types of beers. However, those are the ones that are used in this beer.
Now lets get down to the tasting of this beer and the characteristics that you will notice when drinking this beer.This beer pours to a golden orange color and has a medium head that will leave great lacing. When you first open this beer you will notice the hops immediately. The first thing that I noticed was that this beer had the piney aroma of the Chinook hop. There are also the citrus aroma’s from the other hops but to me they came after the piney aroma. The hops are in the forefront when you take you first sip. The piney aroma also translate the palette. However, when taking your first sip you will notice the citrus a lot more than the aroma would have made you thought. In my opinion those citrus notes consisted of grapefruit and orange. The grapefruit being the easier citrus to notice. The malts in this beer will give this beer a bit of a sweetness at the beginning of this beer. But that sweetness is short lived as the bitterness is what is the main point in this beer. A couple of things I noticed is that when this beer starts to warm up, the piney aroma and taster become a little stronger and this beer is also a very crisp beer that I feel is great for drinking year round but would be great during the hot summers that you may experience where you live.
This beer is one that every IPA lover should try. If your not a big fan of IPA’S you should try it and this one may immediately make you a fan, go to your local beer supplier and get this one if it’s available.
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