Breakside Brewery IPA

Beer Name: India Pale Ale
Brewery: Breakside Brewery (Portland, OR)
ABV: 6.8%
How sold: 22 oz. bottles or on draft
Where bought: WinCo Supermarket (Vancouver, WA)
Price: $3.71 for 22 oz.bottle?!?!

"Bottled On" Date: April 6, 2015
Date Purchased: April 27, 2015
Date Opened/Drank: April 27, 2015

IBUs: 70
When brewed? Year-round beer

Where distributed: Breakside Brewery generally stays local, shipping to just five states (OR, WA, ID, HI, and CO) and one Canadian province (British Columbia). Check here to see if Breakside will ship to your area!

What's on the Website: "Breakside's most popular offering is this beautifully clear India Pale Ale featuring the unique character of Citra and Chinook hops. This light copper beer has huge citrus and tropical fruit aromas with hints of perfume and pine. Flavors like apricot, guava, and orange hit the tongue accompanied by a mild evergreen note. There's just enough caramel sweetness to balance the hop flavors, but this is really a showcase for the beautiful varieties of hops grown here in the Northwest. Like all Breakside beers, this has a notably dry finish and, in true IPA form, a restrained but persistent bitterness. It's one of the most drinkable IPAs around!"

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured a clear orange-amber color into a pint glass. Good carbonation. When real cold, whatever few millimeters of white head quickly dissipated to a slightly sudsy surface. When slightly warmer, a few millimeters of white head stay prominent on top. Some lacing stays on the glass. 4.25/5

Smell (25%): Amazing tropical aroma. Grapefruit, pineapple, and passion fruit right up front. Eerily reminds me of Pliny the Elder. Superior in all aspects. 5/5

Taste (40%): Grapefruit and pineapple initially, light malt and slight pine notes. Bold flavor, clean and smooth. Exactly what it states on the bottle. The hoppy-bitterness wants to present itself on the back end, but it is artfully held in check. Tropical upfront, yet wonderfully balanced. 4.75/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Lightly coats the tongue, some carbonation. Leaves a dry feeling on the tongue. Still very easy to drink. 4.25/5

Overall (20%): An amazing IPA at an incredible price. When Breakside's IPA finished fourth in a blind taste test of 116 American IPAs, I initially scoffed at the result. Frankly, I never would have imagined a world-class single IPA right in my backyard. Seriously, in the Pacific NW, we can get this at the cheapo market for $3.71, virtually a steal for a 22 oz. bottle. You can also find this at other supermarkets for roughly $5, which is still a heck of a deal. I could drink this all day and twice on Sunday. When the much-heralded Pliny the Elder came to mind upon smelling and tasting this beer, I knew I was in for a kickass ride. This is the real deal. 4.75/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.738/5