Big Sur - Double IPA
BarrelHouse Brewing Company

 

On tap. Nice beautiful orange color, clear, decent head and outstanding lacing. Aroma is grapefruit. Big west coast IPA with lots of grapefruit flavors and big resinous hops. Moderate to high bitterness. Enjoyable.

I bit too yellow for a DIPA; was expecting it to be more gold or orange colored. The head doesn't last very long.
Strong aromas, but not too pleasant.
Slight pine notes, strong bitterness.
Feels very thick.
Overall just above average.

19.2 oz can from Mendoza's Market in Mendocino.

This is an easy drinking, relatively mellow DIPA with low bitterness and lively but soft carbonation.

On tap at the source in SLO. Clear golden straw color with short white head leaving scattered lacing. Looks, smells and tastes like a proper WCDIPA. Plenty of citrus and pine with a nice bite. Recommended by an acquaintance who proclaimed it 'liquid perfection'. I say he wasn't wrong. Abv well hidden.

12 oz can, no date marking.

 

draught
IBU: 95
Low amount of sustaining off-white, creamy white head. Medium gold, with a touch of an orange/amber tint to it, for the look. Slightly sweet, medium toast, caramelized malt, spiced and mellow grapefruit peel aroma. Balanced, easy grapefruit peel, with plenty of medium toast, caramelized malt, for the taste.

Big Sur from Barrelhouse Brewing. 12 fl oz can from @2beerdogs in NBW BIF 17. Reviewed 01/05/23 (Review 3088). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated can. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 48.0 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 51.9 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), clear.
Body – Pale Gold (SRM 4), hazy. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, translucent.
Head: Average (Maximum 3.0 cm, aggressive center pour), floral white, high density, average retention, reducing to a broken saw-toothed 0.8 – 1.6 cm crown and a thin complete cap.
Lacing – Decent. A wide band of tiny to small bubbles with multiple misshapen stalactites, beginning to devolve into torn curtains.
Aroma – 4.25 – Grapefruit exocarp and mesocarp, actually smells kind of dry. No malt, no yeast. No ethanol (8.7 % ABV as marked on the label) aroma.
Flavor – 4.25 – Dry and grapefruit rind – no malt, no yeast. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Slight gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium; dry; lively but soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 (After deducting 0.25 point for undated personal container) Very pleasing easy drinker – one I’d keep on hand if available here.

Pours golden yellow fizzy with fading white cap in 13oz tulip on draught at Finney’s. Toasted malts and vanilla on the nose with perfect balanced hoppy hop forward hops laced with pineapple and citrus make this an absolute amazing local DIPA at a respectable 9.6% ABV. Cheers my to my craft DIPA fans, you won’t be disappointed.

This is a great double -9.3 ABV are you kidding me? Out of the can it is not syrupy but easy to drink... too easy to drink, especially when cold. The flavor is standard IPA; I prefer a more piney flavor.

It is worth drinking. Of course, I'm a SLOCAL so I favor our beers.

 

12oz can, no canning date

Pours a finger of dense white head into my can-style glass. Retention is quite good, only losing a small amount of head after a couple minutes. Initial lacing looks wonderful. Body is golden yellow, decent clarity, with an army of bubbles coming up. Looks very nice so far.

Nose is citrus rind, some alcohol, slight malty sweetness, faintest mango; astringent citrus dominates. Smells like an uneventful double IPA. It’s likely dated at this point, I’ve had it for a month, but it was probably canned a good amount before then, gotta date your cans!

Flavor certainly has more to it. Citrus is still a little high at times, but not nearly as piercing or sharp as on the nose. You definitely get some of that mango, some dankness comes out with time as well. The malt sweetness is tasteful and balances things well. Not outstanding, but pretty decent.

Carbonation is about medium, maybe medium-low. Either way, this is very lively, the hops are surely doing some work there too. Body drinks pretty light for a double, but again, very alive. Bitterness is palatable, but assertive in the finish. Sweetness is also tasteful, only coming in with a touch of sweetness; overly sweet is the fastest way to cancel a IIPA for me. No trace of alcohol, without using any flare or gimmicks, impressive. Stellar mouthfeel.

Due to the wonderful mouthfeel, the drinkability is actually quite good.

Appearance turned out killer. The lacing was thick all the way down, and the head very resilient.

Overall I’m not sure I can grade this much higher than the flavor, as that does hold it back a little bit. But big shout out to the mouthfeel and the rest of the supporting cast.

 

Fairly forgettable. Big caramel. Bit of lime and grapefruit. But malt forward, not enough hop bite. Medium body. Good carbonation. Zest and caramel, biscuit. Mild bitterness, a bit watery even.

On tap at BarrelHouse Brewing

A: Pours golden amber with a frothy off white head that settles to a thin layer and leaves a little nice lacing.

S: Ripe tropical and stone fruit, bright citrus, spicy grassy herbal notes, a little pine, biscuity bready malt, and caramel sweetness.

T: Citrus, orange lemon, and grapefruit, spicy resinous pine, tropical and stone fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, mango, peach, apricot, pear, and melon, grassy slightly dank herbal notes, biscuity bready malt, and caramel sweetness.

M: A bit on the fuller side of medium body, moderate carbonation.

O: It's been a little while I last had a sip of this, glad to do a full shakedown from the source. Really solid DIPA with nice depth of flavor.

 

 

Nooooooottttt sooooo baaaadd. A bit of an abv buzz to this guy. Would love to sip at an outdoor concert. Piney, west coast style.