It should be painfully obvious by now that I’m a hophead. The Imperial IPA is without question my favorite style of beer, and California is unquestionably ahead of the pack when it comes to producing them. When it comes to Belgian-style IPAs, however, my palate doesn’t always know how to translate the flavors. There’s something about the Belgian yeast combined with loads of hops that confuses me. The Coronado Brewing Hoppy Daze IPA is a perfect example. I’ve never experienced an IPA that had so much banana presence on the nose – and that can only be coming from the Belgian yeast that’s in the beer. But there are loads of hops, which make me very happy. All-in-all this is a really good beer. As I understand it, there are some folks out there that actually prefer this style. If that’s the case, you will probably be all over this like white on rice. I still stand behind the fact that the yeast and hop combo is puzzling to me and that it doesn’t come close to the love that pours out of most west coast IPAs. But hey that’s just a preference. Perhaps I can try the Hoppy Daze really fresh one day to see if the higher presence of hops would outweigh the yeast a bit more.
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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: John Frusciante
Brewery: Coronado Brewing
Beer: Hoppy Daze
Style: Imperial IPA
Location: Coronado, California
ABV: 9%
Rating: 88/100
Posted by Michael on February 17, 2010 at 11:06 AM
I loved Coronado’s Idiot IPA, and generally enjoy Belgian IPAs, such as Achouffe’s Houblon Chouffe or Green Flash’s Le Freak. It’s definitely a widely varied style… everyone has a unique take. Curious to try this one, except Coronado is tough to find in PA.
Thanks for the review.
Posted by theReaper16 on February 17, 2010 at 1:59 PM
I’ve been meaning to explore weird Belgian IPAs. I’ve got a bottle of Victory WildDevil (IPA w/ Brett) burning a hole in my cellar.
Posted by Jon Rogers on February 17, 2010 at 5:23 PM
The Belgian IPAs are some of my favorites. I’m hoping that more people start making them as the “West Coast” IPA market becomes crowded. Until then, I’ll settle for the limited releases as they are still pretty easy to pick up when they are released.