Mongo IPA - Port Brewing Company

As we venture ever closer to that summer solstice,  my taste-buds begin to crave those hoppy brews so sticky and green with life and energy - much like how I feel on warm sunny days at the beach.  I picked up a couple of IPAs at my favorite brew store and cracked one tonight by one of my favorite breweries for the style, Port Brewing (maker of the infamous Hop 15).

Bomber poured into a Samuel Smith pint glass.  The head pours thick and foamy like meringue and sits so thick you could put a bottle cap on it, much like a thicker-body beer like a good carbonated stout.  The head retains for nearly 3 minutes until it finally recedes, leaving the ever-familiar lacey rings down the sides until it leaves a flan-shaped mound in midst of the glass, making you want to whistle the tune from Close Encounters. The beer itself is a hazy, ruddy orange that is fairly opaque.  If held to the light, you can see bits of yeast collected at the bottom (methinks this may have gotten turned over a time in shipping).

The nose of this beer is the thick grapefruity smell of Simcoe and Cascade that while a great and definitely noticeable scent, doesn't wow me or blow my socks off.  Nevertheless, what they used was a great blend.

The first thing you taste is the rich, green taste of hops on your tongue rolling from front to back, but the mouth-feel is more effervescent than one would expect from a very sticky IPA.   The beer has a fairly high ABV for an IPA (8.5%) and most of the higher ABV beers have a stickier fuller mouth-feel while this one does not.  I can't really decide if I like it or not, but it's probably the most "different" element of this particular brew.  As per the style, there's no malt to speak of in the least - just bitter.  In fact, that's all you taste.  I could see this beer not going over well with those who are not total hop-heads, but those of us who are will love this beer.

All in all, a really good beer that is really close to perfection.  If I were the brewer, I might have mellowed it out a bit or ease back on the bittering phase and moved those hops to a later part in the brewing process, either in the fermenter or hopback.  Definitely a good hearty IPA that will end up near the bottom end of my top 10 IPA list.