Can from Total Wine in Huntington Beach, CA. Pours coppery gold with a creamy white head. Nice hoppy aroma that seems resin. Full bodied. Flavor is somehow just too malty, and gets a touch metallic? Odd aftertaste. Detergent? This is just disconnected. Things don’t work together.

Wally’s, LA can: Pours orange with a creamy white head. Aroma is some pine, resin, and plenty of sugary malts. Taste is much too sweet for my liking. There ain’t really enough hops to balance out the sugar. Not really much to it.

On my second flight of the day inside the Back Bay Bar (Wholefoods, Newport Beach): 13th April 2014. Sat next to ’Wolf Among Weeds’, it looked better but didn’t win in anything else (sorry Dudes). Clear amber body with a good white crown on top. Hops obviously rule the roost with this beer but it lacked finesse and style somewhat. Malty notes arrived as it warmed a little and the alcohol was always just under the surface waiting to bite you if your sip turned into a gulp. I am trying to enjoy these hoppy brews California seems to like brewing but I struggle with some of them.

Can. Crystal clear orange hued body with a medium-large frothy bone hued head. Aromas are of floral and citrusy hops, light grapefruit pith, alcohol and malty sweet notes, light biscuit and caramel. Low ester. Flavors are medium balance, malty, low bitter, floral, citrusy. Well hidden alcohol. No fusel character, but immediately warming. Light windex/chemical flavor in the finish. Lingering citrus. Not overtly forward in its dry hop character. Medium carbonation, warming, medium bodied.