Bottle. Amber beer with a cream colored head. Grapefruit and pine aroma. Pine and grapefruit flavor with caramel and light earth. Medium bodied. Nice bitterness. Pine and grapefruit lingers with caramel.

This is an okay beer, but, relative to other DIPAs, it’s just mediocre. It pours a color that’s right about average for the style, a transparent amber-orange. The head is sudsy with lots of fine, foamy bubbles. The aroma is fairly weak, mostly pine resin hops with some grapefruit rind and a touch of tropical fruit. There’s very little bright, fresh hoppiness, though this bottle should be fresh, judging by when it arrived in local stores. Some caramel malt. The flavor has some good bitterness, but, otherwise, it’s fairly disappointing. It’s a touch too malt sweet at first and altogether too little complexity. The aftertaste is blandly bitter with a note of stale grain. Mouthfeel has nice hop oiliness but is fairly thin and maybe a bit overcarbonated. I rather liked Mission’s IPA, but this one just can’t compete in the already overcrowded style.

Bomber from Country Club Liquors. Nose of pine and citrus with a little apricot in the background. Lightly hazy copper with a medium, lightly lacing, pale beige head. Flavor is bitter with light pine and a bitter finish.

Bomber from the Co-op in Davis, CA. Pours copper with a finely bubbled off-white head. Aromas of citrus hop over a warm smelling malt backbone. Lots of hop, and a lot of it is fruity and floral. Finishes bitter in a slightly harsh way. The malt shows up a bit more in the finish, but it’s still bitter. Good ale.

Bottle - thanks Footbalm. Pours a hazy blonde with a minimal white head. Grassey and malty aroma is mild, with hints of lemon. Tastes rather malty, florals, grass, and bits of corn. Clean and crisp. Not a bad little session brew.

Bomber from a small La Jolla store. Nose of floral, citrus and caramel. Lightly hazy orange with a small beige head. Flavor is bitterwith some orange hints. Finish lightly bitter.

From tap at Pizza Port San Clemente. Pours clear and golden orange with a small white head. Aroma is fruity and crisp hoppy. Solid grapefruity hops flavour with a nice caramelish base. Smooth and fruity into a mild sweet finish with a good bitterness.

This beer isn’t incredible, but it’s still a light, easy-drinking beer with a pleasing flavor. My biggest complaint is that the vinous flavor gets overshadowed by noble hop bitterness. I like the really grapey ones best, and while the aroma is nice and grapey, the hops overpower the vinous note once you take a sip. Also, the mouthfeel seems to be lacking the effervescence of more traditional versions. They need to crank up the carbonation. All that said, it would be a very nice session beer. It’s mildly sweet with a good hop bite in the finish and quite quaffable.

Bomber that somehow made its way to a store in PA. Pours a clear gold with lots of little bubbles and a sudsy head. Aromas are grainy... corn and grass dominate. Flavors are definitely grain heavy... bread dough and honey with a grassy presence in the finish. Nothing too exciting here, but it’s not bad, either.

Bomber that somehow made its way to a PA bottle shop. The mysteries of this state still elude me. Anyhow, aromas are very good... lots of tropical fruit (mango and light citrus) with some pine. Body is a deep orange and supports a very frothy head that is leaving some wonderful lacing on the side of the glass as I jot down my thoughts. After my first sip I’m wondering who has been hiding this gem from the rest of the world. It has a couple of flaws (a watery mid palate development and a slightly astringent alcohol presence in the aftertaste) but I can overlook most of that for the sheer hops and malt bliss that this brings to the table. Lots of pine (more than in the nose), a bit of mango and some well balanced caramel malt. Darn... this is good.