Tropical Torpedo

Fles 35,5cl thuis gedeeld. Fruitbom, tropisch fruit, plakkerig, grapefruit, zoetig, hoppig, bitter, pine. (22-11-2019).

Can: Poured a hazy bright yellow color ale with a large white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of juicy citrusy hops with some floral undertones. Taste is also dominated by citrusy hops notes, some floral undertones with light residual sugar notes. Body is about average with good carbonation. Not bad but not as hazy as I was expecting and hops flavours could be more pronounced.

12 oz bottle, pours clear gold. Medium body. Fruity malt aroma, tropical fruit and bitter hops taste. Lingering bitter finish.

Sierra Nevada, one of the 'founding fathers' of the American (and therefore global) craft revolution, is still renewing itself without losing touch with its own history, something I can most certainly appreciate. This one at first sight seems to draw inspiration from the New England IPA craze in adding a 'tropical twist'. Bottle from Geers in Oostakker near Ghent. Irregularly edged, tightly papery lacing, off-white, bubbly and mousy head slowly breaking in the middle but otherwise well-retaining, cristal clear 'old gold' colour with pale apricot-rosy tinge, turning only lightly hazy with sediment - very clearly this is not a hazy IPA and not intended as such. Aroma of toasted onion, dry biscuit, dried grapefruit peel, old lemon rind, pink peppercorns, ginger juice diluted with water, bitter wormwood bushes, orange flesh, pine resin, acacia honey, herb cheese, herb butter even, but very little of the announced tropical fruitiness - even if a vague background hint of dried mango is certainly there, this is nothing at all like the NEIPA idiom we all know and love today, this is a West Coast IPA with a somewhat sweeter hop aroma than average (which is not a bad thing for me - only makes it all the more interesting). Sweetish but clean onset, dried apricot notes mingled with indeed some orange as well as very faint lychee and mango accents, but remaining very, very restrained in that respect; medium carb, some notable mineralliness, slick oily body. Dry-biscuity malt body with cereally-slick edges, bittered by a firm, piney and resiny 'West Coast' hoppiness, white-peppery, dried-ginger-like and grapefruity in aroma, with again only the slightest accent of tropical fruit, if any. Ends dry and long-lastingly hop bitter, but in a smoothened, more rounded and less 'abrasive' way than a classic West Coast IPA would be; fruitiness from the hops indeed lingers a bit, but nowhere near anything you would expect from a 'tropical IPA'. This is exactly what I was expecting: old school Sierra Nevada drawing inspiration from today's juicy IPAs, but only conceptually and not in actual performance; this beer remains very firmly rooted in the West Coast IPA tradition Sierra Nevada helped build. And that is how it ought to be - I think I like this approach a lot more than when Sierra Nevada would actually try and create a 'real' NEIPA or something along those lines. Best summarized as a softened (but remarkably bright) version of the classic Torpedo, and in that sense perhaps a bit more accessible to less geeky people who have no experience with the classic West Coast IPAs?

Fruity.smooth hops.quite fresh,after exporting to Finland.a positive surprise from Alko.

Både Vått & Tørt i Bakgården 2019. Aroma is tropical fruits. Flavor is tropical fruits, malt, pine, grass, pineapple, mango, citrus. Easy drinkable beer.

Bottle from Pivny raj. Med-light oxidized caramelly maltiness present as is usual with lots of imported US bottles. Hops character survived well aparently. Med-high bitterness and med-high intensity of tropical and general fruity character. Easy drinking. Good one.