Found: South Bay Drugs
Price: Around 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.portbrewing.com
What the company says: Welcome to San Diego- Home to Hop Heads on every corner and THE best place in the world to live if you enjoy Humulus Lupulus and the smell of a well hopped beer. This is Southern California, it’s the place where Blind Pig started the Imperial IPA revolution and San Diego Brewers have continued to be at the forefront of its’ evolution.

Today, fans of Double IPA come from every corner of the globe in search of many of the world’s best and most incredibly well hopped beers. It’s no secret that you can find many of them at Pizza Port as well. Like you, we love these beers and mostly we enjoy the happiness they bring us. So we brew all kinds of them. Beers like Hop 15, Lou P Lin, Hop Suey, Poor Man’s IPA and Doheny Double IPA. We even buy kegs of other Double IPA beers because we love hops so much. Since the very first batch of Swamis IPA hit the taps back in 1993, we have had a love affair with these resinous green cones. They inspired us to brew Hop 15 and since that original batch was tapped, this has always been one seriously hoppy beer.

First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby. It was to be a celebration of 15 years of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer.” So there are 15 different hop varieties that are added to the beer every 15 minutes. Over the years, Hop 15 has racked up numerous accolades. It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival. It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA. Hop 15 remains won of the stickiest most resinous beers we have ever tasted and for that, we are thankful it is on tap at our brewery each and every day.

What I say: Ok this beer is special in many ways.  First off 15 different hops are added every 15 minutes.  If that wasn’t special enough, this beer is special to me because I got it from Californa via South Bay Drugs on a personal recommendation from Joey, thanks Joey and third and the most important reason is that this is the beer I chose to drink while I messed up my first Home Brew!  Yahh!  Oh and yeah the beer is friggin good.

The Look: Hop 15 pours a light amber almost orange color with a medium sized head that laces the glass well as you drink it.

What the nose thought: Ahh like you’re living in a forest full of pine trees.  It’s big and doesn’t hold back.  The malt is pretty big in this one too.  Bready and caramel like.  Citrus notes round out the smell.  The smell of this brew makes you want to dig right in.

And the tastebuds?: Now sometimes when you see me review a DIPA you’ll see me write that I don’t think that beer really deserves to be called a DIPA.  Not the case here my friends.  This is a true kick you in the teeth DIPA full of malt and hops.  It’s big and pretty well balanced and a joy to drink.  Like with the smell you get the piney and citrus hops, they are big but so is the bready malt character.  The beer finishes sweet and a little bit bitter but it’s a true DIPA in every form.  Just good stuff.

The feel: A little bit dry and oily.  But not even close to other DIPAs.  Medium bodied and easy to drink.  But after the bottle I had, I felt a tad bit buzzed.  Never a bad thing, well maybe it is when you’re trying to make your first homebrew.

Ending notes: Yeah this is a good friggin DIPA.  It’s even caused me to try more from this brewery.  They are pretty well known out in California but good luck finding it here.  If you get a chance to try this beer do not hesitate, especially for you Hopheads out there like myself.

Rating: A