No Comply
El Segundo Brewing Company

 

 

Pours an absolutely gorgeous, crystal-clear gold, with steady bubbles leading up to a craggly, foamy, pulsating, alive head. You could read the newspaper through this beer -- one of the prettiest I've come across in a very long time.

Smell is very nice as well -- a little bit of that classic El Segundo diesel, followed up with lime leaves, fresh ginger, passion fruit, and huge, giant rivers of mango. Leans on the sweeter side, and very inviting.

Taste brings along more diesel fuel, more ginger, more passion fruit, more mango -- what you smell is what you get. No shapeshifting here. A four-on-the-floor brew. Lacking a bit in the bitterness department, however -- I would loved some old-school "C" hop raking of the tongue; a little something to thin out the enamel on my teeth. Without that balance, this comes off too sweet for me, almost a little bit like -- yikes -- a NE IPA. The end result is soft and fruity, (as apparently advertised,) but just isn't my cup of tea. If you're going to have an aggressive hop monster knocking out hazy fruity beers on your label, you've got to bring the ruckus a bit more than this.

Mouthfeel is a little on the low side. Some scrubbier carbonation might have helped dry this beer out. Room for improvement.

Overall, I'd venture the brewers managed to accomplish what they wanted here. But it's not quite to my taste. The sweeter, softer flavor (even in comparison with El Segundo's standard offerings) leaves me a bit cold. Give me a Mayberry IPA over this any day of the week.

 

 

Type: 16-oz. can
Glass: Melvin 14-oz. Spiegelau IPA glass
From: Windmill Farms in Del Cerro (San Diego), Calif.
Price: $3.39
Purchased: Aug. 30, 2019
Consumed: Aug. 30, 2019
Reviewed as: American IPA
Misc.: Canned on Aug. 20, 2019

Obviously El Segundo is one of the best out there in terms of West Coast IPAs, so was looking forward to this. Riip seems to be coming on strong as well and I’ve mostly enjoyed what I’ve had from them. The important part on the can read, “One of his great loves of recent has been the hop Strata so we knew we wanted to base a recipe around it. We settled on a blend of Strata, Mosaic, Denali and El Dorado to bring a big fruity punch, but also a strong undercurrent of dankness to pervade throughout.” EDIT: Apparently I had this at the Firestone Invitational bottleshare at the Adelaide, giving it a 4.00 on Untappd on June 1, 2019.

Poured a medium yellow clear color with two fingers of frothy-to-fizzy off-white head. Lots of bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass at different speeds. Minimal lacing. Bad retention. (Sight - 2.75)

Smelled trashy Mosaic, floral, spoiled fruit, Strata, vanilla, light coconut, pine sap, passion fruit, strawberry, herbal, wintergreen and hints of mint. Some earthy malt addition out of the can. (Smell - 4.00)

Taste wasn’t nearly as good. In order got Strata, Mosaic, trash, spoiled fruit, strawberry, coconut, vanilla, pine sap, passion fruit, floral, herbal, mint and earthy malt. (Taste - 3.50)

Medium body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Long finish. (Feel - 4.00)

Not as good as I wanted it to be, but grew on me as it went down. (Overall - 3.75)

3.68 | 83 | B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, clean! Subtle malt backbone really lets the hops shine. Nose is a bit mute, but very pleasant. Floral and underlying earthy/dank attributes. Flavors follow the nose and shine with more prominence. Great level of bitterness, well managed. Mouthfeel is just right, not too thin and not too full, just right for this West Coast IPA gem. Wish I'd brought far more of this back from San Diego. Loved it in a world of too many average hazy brews.

 

 

Bright gold body, excellent clarity; very little active carbonation; respectable head, soapy and one-finger thick. Low-key spicy and herbal smell; pine sap; a little fruity, a little floral. Light cereal grain base punctuated with some mildly energetic hop bitterness. Medium body; crisp and tingly on the palate; semi-dry mouthfeel.

It looks like this may have been canned on 4/24/19 (it's difficult to make out the first number of the date). Regardless, the beer is an okay west coast IPA. Nothing special but still enjoyable.