Sierra Nevada: Torpedo Extra IPA (USA: IPA: 7.2% ABV)
Visual: Slightly apricot skin to yellow clear body. Yellow darkened off white head that leaves suds.
Nose: Fresh lime to lime jelly. Hop oils. Apricot skin. Fluffy hop character. Slightly resinous. Vanilla. Cake sponge. Gooseberry.
Body: Good bitterness. Slight black liquorice. Quite thick mouthfeel. Apricot. Pink grapefruit. Dry pineapple. Tart. Gooseberries. Cherry pocked digestives. Feels well attenuated. Cake sponge. Vanilla toffee.
Finish: Pink grapefruit. Resinous. Oily. Heavy bitterness. Slight charring. Gooseberries. Vanilla toffee.
Conclusion: Ok, quick note, as referenced in the background, before I had this, I had tried the Pacific (West Coast) and Atomic (Imperial IPA) version of this, and holy shit! Especially the atomic. A point worth making twice. They sold out really quick though so I am now doing notes on the standard Torpedo Extra IPA aaand….
It’s still bloody lovely. Not quite up to Atomic standard, which is the stand out of the set, but still lovely.
Despite this not being the west coast variant this still feels quite dry and attenuated in this standard version, and has lovely high bitterness with it. Some toffee and vanilla notes but not heavily so. The main thing I can identify that makes it less west coast like is a chewy weight to the body, which tends to be more out of the way in a west coast in my experience, but it definitely doesn’t have the bigger sweetness that often comes with a heavier body.
There are tart notes, gooseberry even, which reminds me of NZ hopped beers in a good way, a touch of apricot on the sweeter side which feels very traditional mid 2K US hop style, but generally tart green fruit. Ok, pink grapefruit as well, which while tart, as the name may indicate, is not green. Work with me here.
So, tart, bitter as fuck, dry but pretty chewy. This is really good. Any downsides? Well there is the occasional kind of liquorice like touch that I’m not sure where it comes from, and is not my favorite thing. Possible a side effect from the sheer amount of hopping. I dunno, but it is a very small element so really doesn’t ruin the beer.
A very enjoyable bitter and tart beer, as always these days I appreciate any non New England hazy , proper bitter and resinous hoppy IPA – and while this is not one of the best IPAs I have had it is a very enjoyable one to return to again and again.
And if I can get my hands on some of the variants again … oh those were special.
Background: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was one of my earliest introductions to good quality USA beers, so it has been something I have had a soft spot for them for a while. Yet somehow it seems I have never done notes on one of their beers, time to change that! Recently Independent Spirit got in a range of variants of their Torpedo Extra IPA, Dank, Atomic and Pacific and this, the standard version. I was lazy and only did notes on this, however I will say the Atomic was the stand out of the set, absolutely excellent, Pacific was pretty darn good as well. Music wise I went with a band I had recently discovered at a punk festival – Pizzatramp: The Last Supper. Really fun, witty and political punk (If you click the link, note the song “Bring Back Margaret Thatcher.“ is not actually advocating bringing back Margaret Thatcher, you are safe – deffo not a Tory fan band).
