Torres Winds
Wax Wings Brewing Company

16oz tallboy can courtesy of Whyteboar. No obvious freshness date. Sticker from Horrock's briefly led me to believe Craig paid $19.79 for it, which almost gave me a heart attack, but it turns out to be the price for a 4-pack, which is much more reasonable.

Poured into a local approximation of an IPA glass (basically a cross between a flute and a Spiegelau glass), this was a golden amber color, with a good sized, fluffy, off-white head. Decent lace.

Aroma reminiscent of an old school, grapefruity and piney WCIPA, but there's also some tropical fruit -like juiciness. Reminds me of what I call a "new school" WCIPA (like Bodhizafa, etc).

Tastes like an old school WCIPA, with a grapefruity and piney bitterness up front, but in the middle things get a little more sweet and juicy. Finishes dry, but not old school dry.

Medium bodied. Mouth feel is resiny and a little creamy.

I've not had too many IPAs from the Midwest that have really blown me away, especially when they're trying to tout themselves as a WCIPA. This one is outstanding. Sure, it's not a classic old school type, but it reminds me a lot of georgetown's boat is off of, which is my personal favorite of the newer types of West Coast IPAs. I would probably drink the shit out of this if it were local. Thanks, craig!

Brewers Notes: Designed to celebrate our very own Fabian Torres (who hails from Salinas CA), this West Coast IPA bursts with a dank tropical nose that continues to the palate blending with notes of citrus rind and overripe papaya. Juicy, yet excitably dry and crushable throughout these warmer months.

Can received in a ninja strike from @whyteboar , poured into a tervis tumbler aboard the Portunus

Aroma is pine, grapefruit, grapefruit rind

Taste is grapefruit rind , pine

Gentle hop bite pine lingers

Good beer

Poured not quite transparent amber color with a 2” manilla colored head that leaves regular lacing. Unfiltered? Maybe.
The aroma was far more fruit than expected, but mango or guava presented themselves over the piney standard for the WC IPA.
The taste followed, but the fruit doesn’t dominate like in the aroma. Nicely balanced fruit (guava, mango, cantaloupe) and dank piney dryness have a party in your mouth. Really good. Not sure if it’s a good representation of the WCIPA as I haven’t had a good one in a while, but it is really tasty for what it is.
The feel was good, maybe excellent, nice carbonation kept things light and it’s very easy to crush.
Good beer, need to compare it to a good WCIPA.

 

No canning date (released on 5/16/22, so presumably canned within a few days of that date); consumed on 6/7/22

Pours a nearly crystal-clear, bright deep gold body capped with multiple fingers of fluffy, dense, white foam; good head retention leaves a half-finger of cap, moderate, frothy collar, and a speckled array of lacing dotted in spots along the walls of the glass.

Aromas overwhelms with vivid notes of mango from the branch into fresh apricot upfront, with dank grapefruit and a flaky malt undertone over the middle and musty passionfruit developing with subtle resinous accents on the back end.

Taste opens to musty grapefruit with flaky cracker malt undertones leading to freshly cut grass over the mid-palate and boggy white grape on the back end meeting a subtle, catty dank character on the finish.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-light body and a moderate-high carbonation, with fluffy textures leveling to a silky character marking the mid-palate before a clean, flaky-crisp back end with minimal residual bitterness.

Intensely focused levels of expression waver between boldness and the pillowy ease of the base; initially ultra-ripe tropical/stone fruits fade into a more basic yet cleaner, imminently drinkable profile.