DBL WST IPA

Double West Coast IPA by BBP and apparently one who made it into canned form. Snow white, thick and frothy, foamy head, cloudy ochre-tinged apricot blonde robe. Aroma of toasted onion, green mango, yuzu, pink grapefruit peel, pink peppercorns, wormwood, shallots sweating in peanut oil, Graham crackers, dried thyme, gin. Clean onset, some unripe apricot and green banana but low in fruitiness, medium carbonated with full, oily mouthfeel; peanutty, cracker-ish malt core under grapefruity and wormwoody, leafy, peppery, indeed West Coast-style hop bitterness with retronasal aromatic aspects of toasted onion, orange pith and pink peppercorns – long-stretched and drying, but not overly harsh either. Very decent, conveying the old West Coast idiom well (even if there is still a very faint tropical touch to it), without participating in the arms race of highest attainable IBUs that typified the zenith of the style. Then again, that would have been a rearguard action anyway, and I have the impression that in its ‘renewed’ form, West Coast IPA today has taken a sip of the haze craze that happened afterwards, resulting in a somewhat more ‘mitigated’ form than the historical one. In that context, however, this one is closer to that original historic West Coast style than many other contemporary IPAs intended as West Coast. Have an extra point for that.

hazy yellow colour, medium sized creamy ecru-ish head; aroma of piney, grapefruity, pomelo, some fruity-tropical fruity, grassy, dill and biscuity notes; taste has the same notes as can be felt in the aroma with quite definite hoppy bitterness; good one

33cl can from the brewery shop in Brussels. F: medium, egg-white, average retention. C: gold, hazy. A: tangerine, pineapple, mango, lactic touch, grapefruits, bit roasted onion. T: full malty base, orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple, bit onion effect, nice balanced bitterness, soft carbonation, good one, enjoyed.