Aloa Pacific IPA
Birrificio Del Golfo

Birrificio Del Golfo “Aloa?”
33 cl brown glass bottle, “Da consumarsi preferibilimente entro:10/2021 Lo 66/19”
€3,33 at the brewery on 29 November 2019

Notes via stream of consciousness: The brewer told me that this was a double IPA but perhaps he meant double dry-hopped as it’s only 6.2% by volume. It is dry-hopped, but why it’s labeled “Pacific ale” I don’t know. It’s poured a hazy golden-orange body beneath an inch and a half of creamy off-white foam. The aroma is hoppy with notes of pine, citrus, citrus pith, and soft pineapple and other tropical fruit over a grainy malt base. The flavor delivers more of the malt but the hops hang on, not as strong as they were in the aroma, but clearly present. The label lists 50 IBUs but it seems higher than that to me. I’ve been drinking much milder Italian beers for over a week though and haven’t had a really bitter beer though so maybe I’m just off. Or not - perhaps the brewery needs to get some testing done so that they can gauge where they’re at with the bitterness in their recipes. I’m looking at about a half of a glass right now and there’s still a solid surface covering, although thin, and plenty of rocky looking lace that climbs up the side of the glass like a sea-beaten stone outcropping that leads onto shore. It’s got a great appearance but I should note that the last pour released a lot of yeast and now it’s very hazy and has a little bit of a different flavor with the additional yeast adding some nuttiness and just a light touch of acidity. I don’t know if this is bottle-conditioned or just unfiltered (or loosely filtered), and I wish I’d had a chance to ask the brewer but he seemed busy and I needed to get back on the road before dark. In the mouth it’s medium bodied and crisp, but not too crisp. It gives a little bit of zest to the tongue right up front but then it warms across the middle to become smoother. It finishes dry with a lot of pine, and then lingers shortly with a light note of maltiness as well. I’m impressed by its appearance, and quite happy with its aroma and flavor. For this type of beer it’s without a doubt one of the better ones I’ve found from an Italian brewer. Every year that I return to Italy I find more breweries (there are over 2,000 now), and better beer. I could kick myself now for not buying everything they had but there’s still a chance I might make it back to La Spezia to pick up more. On that note, as BA no longer has place reviews, Birrifico Del Golfo is only a 15 minute walk from the train station in La Spezia where you’d catch the train to Cinque Terre.
Review #6,820

On tap at Vertical bar in Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre
For an ipa it lacks a bit of hop punch. For a summer ale, it's almost perfetto. It's quite refreshing