Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Beer Name: Torpedo Extra IPA
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Chico, CA; Mills River, NC)
ABV: 7.2%
How sold: 6-packs of 16 oz. bottles
Where bought: Johns Marketplace (Portland, OR)
Price: $1.59 for a single 16 oz. bottle

Date Bottled: March 13, 2015
Date Purchased: May 9, 2015
Date Opened/Drank: May 17, 2015
When brewed? Year-round beer
IBUs: 65

Where distributed: Sierra Nevada can ship to many states with breweries on the West Coast and East Coast. Check their full distributor list!

What's on the Bottle: "Torpedo Ale is a big American IPA -- perfectly balanced yet full of flavor and aromas that highlight the complex citrus, pine, and herbal character of whole-cone American hops. At Sierra Nevada we take hops seriously. Torpedo Extra IPA starts with the world's finest whole-cone hops and intensifies their flavors with a little magic from our 'Hop Torpedo.' The torpedo is a revolutionary method of dry hopping that brings this beer alive with a rush of complex hop aromas and flavors not found in any other beer."

What's on the Website: "Sierra Nevada and hops go hand in hand. What began as a crazy idea scribbled in a pub eventually became our newest year-round hop bomb, Torpedo Extra IPA. The first beer to feature our 'Hop Torpedo' -- a revolutionary dry-hopping device that controls how much hop aroma is imparted into beer without adding additional bitterness. Torpedo Extra IPA is an aggressive yet balanced beer with massive hop aromas of citrus, pine, and tropical fruit." Read more on their website!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured a hazy copper color into a pint glass. A few millimeters of white head upon pouring that reduces to a light sudsy surface. Some lacing on the glass. 4.5/5

Smell (25%): Mostly light sweet-malty, pine, and floral characteristics. Unfortunately, not the biggest fan of that floral or herbal aroma. I did not detect any tropical fruit or citrus. 3/5

Taste (40%): Sweet-malty at the start, with combinations of pine and floral qualities. Again, unable to detect any tropical fruit or other citrus qualities. Some controlled bitterness on the aftertaste, yet smooth. 3.75/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied; the beer coats the tongue quite nicely. Good carbonation. There's a nice spice of some sort that hits the back of the mouth and the throat. 4/5

Overall (20%): An average IPA. I'll probably get a good amount of flak for this one, but this beer was just OK to me. It might not have been the absolute freshest product I drank, but two months from bottling is still within reason. There's no denying that this beer has a ton of flavor, but there was this herbal or floral quality that I simply was not a fan of; I'm more of the refreshing fruity-hop IPA guy. Six packs of this probably go for about $9 in my area, which is still reasonable for a critically acclaimed brew. I know many people who would love this and probably smack me over the head for my comments. But hey, that means more for them, right? 3.5/5

Final Weighted Rating: 3.575/5