Level Line
Topa Topa Brewing

This one delivers. I love refreshing beers with a bit of ginger and lemongrass. This one brings that refreshing zest, plus a bit of dry prickly pine, tangerine, peach, blackberry, and raspberry. It’s a little less than medium in body. No wrong notes. Good synergy. It’s one of the most refreshing beers in existence.

 

Canned 2/25/25. Consumed from a tall tulip on 4/30/25. This bears no resemblance to some earlier reviews that noted an almost amber color. This is a tall, loose, short-lived head with minimal lacing. Pale yellow, clear liquid. Little smell. Taste sort of in line with can description of lemongrass, tangerine, woody. More bitter tan expected for a pale ale. Reminiscent of a WC IPA. Initial mouthfeel is moderate body but it gives way to a disappointingly thin feel.

 

 

 

Got a sixer of cans recently with no visible date info. It's always strange to me that a beer added 6 years ago has only 3 reviews and less than 10 ratings. There has to be a high number of BA members within the distribution area near LA/Ventura counties that are sleeping on this :-)

Anyhow, I'm in agreement with others that this pale ale is super drinkable and should be generating more enthusiasm in the beer community!!

Pours golden yellow with white fizzy cap. Decent mile pale with notes of mango, citrus and lemon. No big punch but not bad for a $4.5 brew on draught at Eureka.

gabf gold medal winner, a tasty and somewhat understated pale ale, balanced and clean, very professionally done, fresh as can be when i had it. clear and almost amber colored, way more both refined and traditionally malty looking than is common in the style these days, but the nose is decidedly contemporary, with big citrus wafts, rather low apparent bitterness, and some lightly tropical nuance, mango, peach, juicy and clean. it drinks lighter than it looks, less body than the color seems to suggest, remarkably drinkable, was expecting sweeter and fuller i think. the hop profile also kind of works to lighten this, zested mixed citrus, pineapple, very moderate bitterness, some light sativa fruitiness too, not oily or lingering on the palate at all, lightly botanical, some minerals in the mix too, and an absolutely minimal ferment, just dry and fast on the finish, quenching and refreshing. i really like the low abv of this too, not enough pale ales in this range, they seem to be creeping up like ipa, this is truly session beer. great refinement, lovely freshness and hop profile, distinctive in quality, and overall an impressive specimen. cool to drink their medal winning beers back to back, these guys seem to really have some magic going on! best pale ale ive ever had? no, but its quality cannot be denied!

On tap at the Camarillo tasting room.
Definitely a solid example of what would now be deemed West Coast. This APA is leaning more toward amber than gold. Fluffy off-white head is solid, great retention, layered lacing.
Nose is a pleasing wash of citrus (orange zest, mild grapefruit pith) and hints of pine and weed.
Flavor follows the nose very well. But all of those notes carry a clean bitterness. A firm malt backbone, hints at buckwheat, brings a tamed sweetness and makes way for a hint of pepper, almost akin to rye.
Mouthfeel is slightly hefty for style, but not distractingly so, good carbonation, and smooth, slightly oily finish.

 

Great! It's super smooth. It's a little bland compared to other pales out there but it's drinkability makes up for it. It's on the fruity side and slightly hoppy. I personally think it could use more bitterness. I'm gonna add this to my rotation, it's just sooo smooth. This is also an easy beer to share with friends (they'll love it).