Swami’s IPA: A Beermail Highlight

Beermail is the best. And the best beer from my most recent beermail is Swami’s IPA from Southern California’s Pizza Port Brewing Company. From the aroma at the crack of the can to the lingering aftertaste, this beer leaves no doubt that it’s a fine example of a West Coast IPA. The aroma leaps out of the can and is even more pronounced as you pour. The beer is an opaque golden yellow with orange undertones. The off-white head resembles a soft meringue as it settles to about three-quarters of an inch and remains. The bouquet is a pleasant blend of sweetness with a tease of bitterness. The nose picks up both pine and pineapple, though the tropical fruit notes are more pronounced. There is also a sweet and bready aroma of a lightly kilned malt. If you smell as you sip, the two senses blend as the tropical sweetness on the nose is carried into a brief initial sweetness on the tongue. The tip of the tongue picks up on melon flavors just before a bitter and sweet taste of orange peel or grapefruit peel begins the beer’s transformation to a hoppy IPA. The middle of the tongue picks up just a bit of peach and a distinct grassy flavor. The flavor gets bigger towards the back as a slight pineapple note is quickly overshadowed by assertive pine dominance. The beer finishes massively grassy and dank leading to a notably long piney aftertaste. This 6.8% beer is available in 16 oz. cans and is easiest to find in Southern California, but there is limited distribution to other areas. Unfortunately, I can’t get these at home, so I’ll have to put in a request for my next beermail.

Cheers,
Alex

Outdoor Friendliness (cans are good to go)…10/10
Aroma (wonder blend of sweet and bitter)…9/10
Taste (a menagerie of sweets and bitterness)…9/10
Style Appropriateness (blurs the line between IPA and Imperial IPA)…8/10