Left Coast Hop Juice

Brewed By: Left Coast/Oggis Pizza and Brewing Company in Del Mar, California  

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 9.7%

Reported IBUs: 82

No...I didn't drink this tonight with my Old Rasputin. I <3 my liver, I would never do that. I had this over the weekend. About Left Coast:

Left Coast Brewing was founded in 2004, and is an independent brewery with limited bottle and draft releases. The brewery has a capacity to produce 14000 barrels of beer, and they currently produce four full time beers (Hop Juice, Asylum Belgian, Trestes IPA, and Voo Doo American Stout). For more information, check out the brewery's website here.

The Hop Juice is a big ol' American Imperial IPA. This beer uses American 2-Row, Crystal Malt, and five hop varieties  to give it a big malty backbone, and plenty of hop kick.  

Left Coast Hop Juice

This pours a copper/amber/orange color, with two finger's of super sticky, slightly amber-tinted head. This is transparent, with lazy, mid-sized bubbles rising from the center. Nice lacing. Nice head retention.

The aroma is huge hop juice, with a big malty profile. This is resinous and woody, with orange/grapefruit, caramel, grapefruit, orange and some pine. Really fat aroma, thick resin, sap; slight bread, boozy bread, orange bread, hints of brandy or cognac.

This is thick, with fat, resinous orange hop goodness. This is a thick and bready beer. Orange bread, bread soaked in booze, caramel, some grapefruit and wood. This never really gets into bitter territory, and stays in West Coast territory, with FAT, RESINOUS, THICK hop juice. There's a dash of pine and a hint of spice.

This is super drinkable, even at 9.7%. Medium-full to full-bodied, with amazing palate depth, and moderate complexity for the style. Up front is big sweet malts, bread, caramel/toffee, and huge bready/woody/resinous citrus; orange, grapefruit, pine; mid palate rolls into sweet hops, resinous hops, hop juice; the back palate is lingering bitterness, fading hops, slight wood, grapefruit, and fade to dry. This is delicious.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. Really tasty stuff, with a full mouth-feel, and big juicy hops. Food pairings: bar food, burgers, Mexican food, anything spicy. Your typical IIPA pairings. At around 7-9 bucks a bottle, I would definitely recommend this.

Random Thought: I'm gonna have to check out more stuff by Left Coast.