Friday, August 9, 2013

Tasting- Some Coconut IPA or Cocoa IPA?

[caption id="attachment_1478" align="alignright" width="403"]coconut-oil-DSC_1718 Coconut oil makes the best skin lotion, great for cooking, hair conditioning and massages.[/caption]

 

I've been following with wet lips and hungry eyes the R&R Coconut IPA being released by Stone Brewing in the home-brewer competition collaboration due mostly to everlasting love of Maui Brewing's Coconut Porter.

As I'm rubbing coconut oil into my sun soaked southern France skin, I'll roll around some Rip Current Coconut IPA connections.


Robert & Ryan / Rip Current / Stone R&R Coconut IPA Collaboration is a 7.7% ABV India Pale Ale brewed and flavored with coconut


[caption id="attachment_1475" align="alignleft" width="216"]Maui Coconut Porter is my weakness Maui Coconut Porter is my weakness[/caption]

Label:
This collaboration beer is a celebration of the homebrewing spirit and an example of counter-intuitive thoughts coalescing beautifully into something exceptional. Case in point is the seamless marrying of toasted coconut and a hop bill brimming with tropical fruit notes. Longtime homebrewers Robert Masterson and Ryan Reschan teamed up to enter this beer in our annual American Homebrewers Association-sanctioned brewing competition and, though it was the first beer they’d ever brewed together, they sailed past the competition like a tropical ocean breeze on a pleasure cruise bound for India. After winning, the duo reached out to their friend, highly decorated homebrewer and 2011 AHA Ninkasi Award winner Paul Sangster of the newly opened Rip Current Brewing Company, to assist in dialing in the recipe. Together with Sangster’s skilled partner Guy Shobe and Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele, Masterson and Reschan present fellow craft beer enthusiasts with a most delicious and original style of IPA. Open, enjoy, rest, relax and repeat as needed.

“On the nose, you get lots of tropical fruit—mango, passion fruit, pineapple—with some sweet orange and stone fruit from the hops along with toasty coconut sweetness.” Ryan Reschan /I Winning Homebrewer 1 love the tropical spin that Robert and Ryan added to an already great IPA recipe.” Mitch Steele II Brewmaster, Stone Brewing Co. “The true lest of a beer like this is the balance between the fruity hop and the coconut flavors and, with this one, you feel like you’re drinking a tropical drink on the beach.”

[caption id="attachment_1476" align="alignleft" width="300"]imgres Coconut IPA from OCBeerBlog[/caption]

There have been a hand-full of reviews out lately, best of which:

Brewerianimelogs- "Overall, the beer does a pretty good job and bringing some very nice tropics to the scene and some nice hints that would not be found in some other IPAs"

Thefullpint- "When I had my first pour at the Stone Company Store at their serving temperature, not a trace of coconut... The bottle however, was a different experience."

From StumpyJoeJr (Ryan) himself in a video

OCBeerBlog- "Vacation in a glass."

Beergeekradioreviews (first post, but great review)- "But few people do IPA's as well as Stone, and even though I wanted more coconuts in the flavor, I could still drink this all day. Not perfect, but definitely not a loser by any means." 

Still waiting for other respectable reviewers to get some bottles and chat it up, like Greg or Beer Geek Nation.

[caption id="attachment_1477" align="aligncenter" width="960"]coconut ipa anime Coconut IPA from Brewerianimielogs[/caption]

As soon as find someone willing to send me over a bottle (or a case) I'lll get my own review up, until then, sip on this taste of something equally IPA awesome: Cocoa IPA from Microbrewery Bodebrown, voted Brazil's favorite IPA for #IPADAY:


Cocoa IPA with Maria Cevada


Cheers to beers and vacations!


XOXO

4 comments:

  1. Sean and I shared this beer the other day. It was good! Just not what I expected. It didn't present any real coconut flavor(s). Reminded me of a Racer5 or Sculpin, which are both fabulous, just not what I wanted at the time. ;)

    I still prefer the Maui goodness.

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  2. I keep hearing that the coconut isn't present until the beer has warmed a little, disappointment. But like a bj, you can't really understand what people are talking about until you experience it yourself. I need coconut IPA in my mouth.
    The end, even if I lust after other beers, my heart will always be with Maui Coconut Porter (and you!).

    XOXO!!

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  3. […] #IPADAY I shared details on my longing desire for Coconut beer but chose a Cocoa IPA from Brazil as a substitute choice for […]

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  4. […] talk about coconuts on TastingNitch (vlog), a heck of a lot. So, it’s only natural that when an equally coco-nutty person has a birthday that I […]

    ReplyDelete