Tonight I'm drinking Green Flash West Coast IPA. In other words, I'm drinking the flagship beer of one of the best San Diego breweries. This also happens to be the IPA that got me into the world of IPA. Yeah, I didn't start with some half-assed IPA, no sir, I jumped head first into IPA.
West Coast IPA comes in at 7.3% abv and according to the bottle is "extravagantly hopped". I think that means it's about 90-95 IBU. It's not just super hoppy, it's EXTRAVAGANTLY hoppy!!
Ok, enough bullshit.
West Coast pours out a beautiful golden color, bordering on a copper/rust orange. There was about a finger and a half to two fingers of white fluffy head that vanished fairly quickly, leaving behind a sticky webbed lacing. It's pretty much see through albeit slightly hazy. It's not preventing me from seeing my hand through the glass or the various things on my desk.
The nose on this beer is incredible. Tons of grapefruit and citrus fruits. Lots of that resinous pine and hoppy earth notes that you'd hope to find in an IPA. If an IPA lacks these qualities it's probably just a pale ale trying to puff it's chest out and hang with the big boys. I'm also getting a bit of an orange peel quality as well. Citrus tends to blend together a bit but the usual suspects of grapefruit and orange are here for sure.
The taste on this beer is what an IPA should taste like. Right away you get that typical west coast hopped goodness. The IBU's sort of show up on your door step and just punch you square in the face, take your wallet, and walk away. Middle of the mouth you get a ton of grapefruit followed by a lot of orange zest/peel. It's like they're holding hands and skipping across the tongue. Have no fear though, they're being chased by the hop monster and it's leaving behind all sorts of good hoppy bitterness. West Coast finishes nice and dry and leaves behind a little more bitterness for your taste buds. Who doesn't like a little bit of cab fair after a nice evening out? I mean.... shit. Getting carried away here.
Overall, West Coast IPA is just a classic version of an IPA. It's not re-writing the book on IPA because it IS the book of IPA. I'll be completely honest for a moment. All bullshitting aside, if you've never had Pliny the Elder but you can easily get West Coast IPA and have made the right decision to buy and drink it, you're not missing anything. West Coast IPA should be the definition of a what an IPA is. If you can get this, do it. Don't ask questions. Don't second guess yourself. Just buy the beer. It's so worth it.
Rating: A+
And yes the wife simply says that West Coast IPA, tastes like beer.
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