Tag Archives: Double IPA

Tasting Room

Barrel Harbor Brewing – Vista CA

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For a brewery that has been open for less than 2 years, Barrel Harbor is not doing much to distinguish themselves in a crowded market. These days brewing a good IPA is simply expected. I stopped by this past weekend and tried the brown ale, porter, Nugget IPA, black IPA, and double IPA. From all of these the single hop Nugget IPA was probably the most impressive. They were out of their regular IPA at the time.

Barrel Harbor 01

 

Tap list when I visited.
Tap list when I visited.

The brown ale was typical of the style, smooth and flavorful yet not really standing out. The porter was available on nitro and was good and creamy with mild roasted flavors. The Nugget IPA, single hop IPA with the nugget hops, was the best of the bunch. It had a nice golden flavor while being very smooth and fruity. The hops were noticeably fresh and it jumped out at me. I would guess that these are the same hops used in Abita’s Wrought Iron IPA that I love so much.

My flight of beers with an extra for the double IPA.
My flight of beers with an extra for the double IPA.

The black IPA was interesting because it was pretty mellow and low in bitterness for a black IPA. The hops tasted pretty similar to the nugget, though I was told it is brewed with simcoe. The hops blended nicely with the roast, making it a solid beer. Finally, the double IPA was strongly bitter and had a bit of a soapy taste that combined with a cloying sweetness. I wasn’t able to get myself to finish the double IPA taster.

Barrel Harbor 03

Barrel Harbor 04

I first tasted an IPA from Barrel Harbor on tap at a bar in Rancho Bernardo. They certainly know how to brew a good IPA but in this market you need to do more than that to stick out, especially up in the “Hop Highway” region, off the 78 freeway. They do have a nice pirate/nautical theme going that makes their tasting room an interesting place to visit. If you do drive up to visit Barrel Harbor make sure you visit one of the other breweries in the area as well. They are very close to Booze Brothers, which will be the subject of my post next week.

Top 2:
Nugget IPA
Black IPA

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Tasting Room

Kilowatt Brewing Company – Kearny Mesa Area

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Walking distance from Council and quite close to Societe is a new brewery called Kilowatt that is focusing on adding flavors to their beers outside the traditional hop, malt, and yeast flavors. This means fruit added to some beers and other flavors added to stouts, including chocolate, nuts, and spices that you see on occasion. They have a fairly large space for a new place and are brewing some solid beers for a young brewery.

Kilowatt Brewing 01

I tasted 10 different beers when I stopped by though I didn’t get to try everything because the IPA was not available (too many beers on tap to include) and some were better to just try the flavored versions (the blonde and brown ale were skipped in favor of the flavored ones). The photography was a bit difficult because they have an interesting light up bar that changes colors so I tried to get photos of the tasters while the color was white.

Kilowatt First Set of Tasters
First set of tasters

First set of tasters I tried the strawberry blonde (made with frozen strawberries added), the kilowatt pale, mango pale (with frozen mango added), and angry amber. Second set I went with the cinnamon hazelnut brown, coconut chai porter, chocolate macadamia stout, and one eyed willie stout. I ended with the Obliquity double IPA and Dr. Rudis double IPA.

Second set of tasters
Second set of tasters

The strawberry blonde was a nice subtle strawberry flavor with a mild amount of sweetness. I would have preferred it to be more intense like the mango pale. The Kilowatt Pale was quite mellow to me and didn’t really let the hops or the malts really shine through because of the lower alcohol content. It makes a nice background for the mango pale though, which was one of my favorites. The mango was so intense it was almost like mango juice with those delicious Mexican mangos. The angry amber was a solid amber ale with a lot of dark fruit flavor at the front and a nice balanced flavor with a pretty mild hop bite.

Kilowatt Tap list.
Tap list.

The cinnamon hazelnut brown had a lot of intense cinnamon at the beginning but it mellowed out over time and especially tasted mellow compared to the rest of the dark beers on tap. The coconut chai porter had a nice ginger bite at the front but later mellows out to a smooth coconut with mild spice. The chocolate macadamia stout has a smooth chocolate flavor that becomes creamy when you add the macadamia. I found it to be quite balanced and delicious. Comparatively, the one eyed willie stout was too acidic and dry and lacking in the roasty character I look for in a stout.

IPA tasters.
IPA tasters.

Finally I tried the double IPAs. The Obliquity seemed to be a bit too malty for my tastes though it could have also been the blend of hops that I wasn’t a huge fan of. It seemed to be more on the balanced side of things with lots of earthy, dank hops and a strong bitterness. The malts didn’t really seem to fit with the hops to me so much either. Comparatively, the Dr. Rudis double IPA was more on the tropical fruit/juicy melon side of things and much lighter on the malts, which was more what I prefer to have in a double IPA.

Some interesting tap handles.
Some interesting tap handles.
Kilowatt Brewing 07
Love those hop lamps!

Overall, I thought Kilowatt was doing some great stuff when I stopped in. The addition of fruits and other things really gives them unique flavors in a crowded market and their tasting room is large enough to accommodate a good group. I will have to come back soon to try their single IPA but a lot of what I tasted was very nice and will likely bring me back to try some more at a future time.

Top 3
Mango Pale
Chocolate Macadamia Stout
Coconut Chai Porter

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Tasting Room

Bottle Logic – Orange County California

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Quite close to Noble Ale Works and still not far from The Bruery is a brewery I hadn’t heard much about called Bottle Logic. I got a certain feel similar to the experimentation present in Beachwood Brewing. They give you a nice preview of things that are currently fermenting so that you can have an idea of what is coming next. When I stopped by I ordered a flight of most of their core beers and a few others. Some of the beers were quite impressive though others were merely good.

Bottle Logic Brewing

I started with a flight of the Tattered Prince French style saison, the Lagerithm dark lager, Recursion IPA, milk stout, Berliner Weisse with peach and hibiscus, and the baltic porter. I finished off with a taster of the Double Actuator double IPA and Imperial Coffee Stout.

Bottle Logic Brewing First Flight
First flight of tasters.

Starting things off the Tattered Prince I really enjoyed the tropical fruit and belgian yeast flavors mixing with the various spices that are typical in a Saison. It packs a good punch at 7.3%. This beer recently won a few medals and I can see why. I almost left with a bottle. Next came the dark lager. It was a solid beer with some light coffee flavors and roasted malts. It would be very refreshing but I was hoping for something closer to a Czech style black lager. It was more of an amber lager.

Bottle Logic Brewing Last two tasters.
Last two tasters.

The Recursion IPA was a solid juicy/melon IPA with some strong bitterness and mild herbal notes. As I got through the taster the herbal aftertaste became a bit much for me. The milk stout was very smooth and had plenty of roasted malt flavors. Everything was more silky because it was poured on nitro. The Berliner Weisse was refreshing and not too tart. The peach and hibiscus blended together nicely giving it a very light pink color. This was listed as a refreshing summer beer and I agree it was.

Bottle Logic Brewing Beer List
Beer list when I visited.

The baltic porter was also quite nice, and a bit more flavorful than the milk stout. It had some smooth chocolate flavor and light booze that blended nicely with a subtle hazelnut flavor. The imperial coffee stout was not much stronger than the porter but it had a very strong coffee flavor that was quite nutty. This was my favorite dark beer of the bunch. Finally the Double Actuator double IPA was a powerful IPA with citrus, tropical fruit, and melon and just the right amount of malts to balance it out. This one was also quite delicious and my favorite of the two IPAs.

Bottle Logic Brewing Indoor shot
Nice wide open area to sip your beers in the back.

Bottle Logic has a fairly large tasting room with seating in the area with the bar and additional seating in the back by the fermenters. When I visited on a Sunday afternoon they had a food truck on site and I expect they have food trucks fairly regularly.

Top 3 beers
Tattered Prince French style saison,
Double Actuator double IPA and the
imperial coffee stout

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Craft Beer Bar

Duck Foot Brewing Company – Gluten Free Beer

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Duck Foot Brewing grew out of a desire of one of the brewers to make beers he could drink. As someone with Celiac, a disease that makes gluten harmful to consume, he wanted to open a brewery where all the beers are safe to consume for someone like him. Though this is not the first brewery to add the enzyme that makes the beers gluten reduced–Stone used it in their Delicious IPA–they are the first brewery to use that inclusion as a central piece of their marketing.

Duckfoot Brewing Co 01

Duck Foot is currently in the soft opening phase and when I visited them on Saturday, May 9th, it was the first day they were open to the public. Still, I enjoyed most of their beers and will be looking forward to seeing the sorts of things they come up with going forward. When I visited I got to try the blonde, wit, porter, IPA, and Double IPA. There was a stout available earlier that day that blew (ran out) before I got to taste it.

The blonde had a nice light citrus hop flavor that balance with the typical flavors of the style. Still a very crisp drinkable beer. The wit was also nicely done to style. It had nice crisp citrus and spice flavors as you would expect. The porter had a nice mix of bitter chocolate and coffee with a nice sweet caramel back. There is also a smooth nutty flavor in the back from some added hazelnuts. I thought this one could be a little thicker but it is solid.

Duckfoot Brewing Company Taster Flight
First few tasters of the flight. Blonde, Wit, and Porter.

The IPA was a nice Simcoe IPA and not overly bitter. It had good citrus flavors and tropical fruit with a moderate bitter after taste. The Double IPA was a bit sweeter with some tropical fruit flavors and good citrus. Both were very much in the San Diego style both in the flavors presented and the lighter malt bill giving the hops a prominent spot in the beers.

Duckfoot Brewing Co 04

For a new place I was also quite impressed by the size of the tasting room. They feature a long bar and more bar seating near the windows. Indoors they are somewhat similar to 32 North in look though they feature some unique artwork on the wall that will help them stand out from the rest. All of the beers I got to taste will be core beers except for the wit. As they get closer to the grand opening I will update you on the different beers I get to try from Duck Foot.

Disclaimer: I was given the tasters of beer free of charge when I stopped by for my tasting. I did not modify my thoughts in any way because of this.

Update from Media Party:

I came back to Duck Foot for their media party that took place on June 2, 2015 when I tried three new beers that were not available previously. These were the Cali Honey Ale, Saison, and Red Ale. I thought the honey ale had a nice balance. It was not too sweet or medicinal like many honey ales get.

Left to right (Honey, Amber, Saison).
Left to right (Honey, Amber, Saison).

 

The saison is a solid basic saison with a light body and some Belgian yeast flavors. It lacked the typical spice of a saison but they mentioned that it will be available in different fruit variations going forward so they wanted to keep it simple. Finally the Red Ale was a nice dark amber color with flavors of roasted malts and light coffee. If it had a thicker body it could have easily passed for a porter. A very nice beer.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Brewery/Restaurant

South Park Brewing Company South Park San Diego

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South Park Brewing 01

Update: December 2017

All of the information below explains the feel of South Park Brewing quite well but their beer lists have changed pretty drastically since then so I am updating this post with information about the beers they had more recently and how they taste.

South Park Brewing has largely stuck to the classic San Diego style of hop-forward beers. Though they have a few IPAs that claim to be juicy or hazy, they are really just mild tweaks to the classic West Coast style IPA formula of low malt bill and an intense dry bitter finish. The ESB was too hop-forward for me and didn’t let the malt base shine through as it should in the traditional style.

The four IPAs I tried were all pretty similar except for the Poor but Kind, which had a bit more malt backbone and less hop bite. Tongues of Angels, Haze 57 IPA and Cs of Rye were all fairly dry with a bitter bite at the finish. Of the 3, Tongues of Angels was my favorite, blending citrus and floral hops while not being overly bitter. Haze 57 IPA was not particularly hazy or soft and had a strong herbal hop bite I didn’t care for. Cs of Rye was a mix of citrus and herbal hops similar to the Haze and both had a fairly intense bitter finish.

Poor but Kind is termed a classic West Coast IPA but I found it to be more of a classic NW IPA with the caramel malt base shining through and hops focusing more on bitter character than aroma. I finished with the smoked porter, the beer that impressed me the most out of the list. It was creamy and balanced with a delicate smoke character that is one of the best versions of the style I have had outside of Europe. It has that classic smoke character that is common in German rauch beers.

Another change since my first visit is the fish display on Ice that is no longer there. They still serve fresh local fish and even opened a window so that people in Hamilton’s Tavern next door can order food without stepping outside. My friend and I shared ceviche and everything tasted fresh.

If you are seeking out the best examples of juicy hazy IPAs, you won’t find them at South Park Brewing. You will find a bunch of IPAs that remain true to the San Diego roots with that bitter bite that many have stopped adding.

Soft opening – May 2015

Though still in their soft opening phase currently, South Park Brewing seems to be off to a good start. Sadly, when I visited they were out of a few beers so they only had three on tap, but I did get to try their IPA, double IPA, and oyster stout. Still, what they had was a good start for such a young brewery.

South Park Brewing 02

South Park Brewing started out in a larger space than the average new brewery and serves food as well. I was tempted by the variety of fish options and ice cream though I did not partake because I was heading to eat after. Next time I head down there I will certainly try one of them. They also have a fairly large indoor area that has plenty of seating both inside and out front by the street.

South Park Brewing 03

Beer wise, they had a few guest beers as well in case someone isn’t a fan of their house beers. I started with the IPA, a 100% Simcoe hop IPA, that delivered the San Diego style of beer with plenty of tropical fruit and citrus and a mild bitterness. The double iPA was a bit heavier and a bit more boozy. It had some spice flavors reminiscent of a saison, though overall it was a bit too heavy for me given the flavors.

South Park Brewing 06
Fresh fish available on ice for enjoying on premises or taking home.

South Park Brewing 05

Finally, the oyster stout was a solid offering with a bit of caramel and roasted malts, though too salty for me. I was hoping to also try their saison but it had run out before I visited. With a solid IPA so early on I expect South Park Brewing will do some good things once they have a grand opening at some point in the future. For now it is worth dropping in if you are in the area. They are right next door to Hamilton’s Tavern. Maybe next time I will try some of the ice cream.

South Park Brewing 04

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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