Many of you reading this will either be perusing the internet or be a beer geek. If you are in the latter you’ll probably be interested in my latest review; Stone Brewing’s Cali-Belgique IPA.
Already the name spikes interest, what is a Cali-Belgique IPA. Simply put, it is a IPA brewed with Belgian yeast strains. This is supposed to add funkiness to the flavour of the beer. Whether this is true or not I will discuss later.
I actually now work at the Euston Tap so I am at the point of a great supply of bottled beers from around the world, some admittedly better than others, yet better than the average off-licence selection. Adding to this greatness is a small discount which I can use to buy some more expensive beers. We recently had a shipment of Stone products which included most of their regular line of beers in bottles plus some in keg (including the lovely Smoked Porter). I bought this and an Arrogant Bastard Oaked with my tips. I would save this for a little longer but after a 3-day shift, this was calling out from the fridge
But back on to the beers, literally and figuratively, and to the review of this IPA. First of all the beer comes in a strikingly good looking bottle. One advantage the American brewers seem to have of their British counterparts is the great marketing aspect of their beers. Although the new wave of craft breweries such as Otley and Kernel buck the trend of pump clips that have some truly awful designs, the American Brewers seem to have such great marketing originality in their packaging.
But on to the actual beer itself; the beer has a slight hazy look. Although many people are put off by this, I actually quite like it, it looks quaint and nice, a break from the clear as water mass-produced lagers. This is also a bit of a subjective view, although it is expected you are served a beer that has good clarity in a pub, at home it can be forgiven.
The smell is intoxicating, and is very similar to Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which is an outstanding beer, yet if you smell for a little while longer than other people (go on, have a gander), there is a very complex aroma that I could not get my head around, almost spicy, maybe piny; I cannot discern, yet it was good enough to dive into on the first whiff. But it is very tutti-frutti (if I am allowed to say that).
The taste is altogether a little step back, the first sip you take is full of those pleasing citrus pithy flavours that are indicative of an American IPA: orange, grapefruit and lemon are all there and it’s like seeing a bunch of regular friends. You then get an almost citrus bitter taste as you swallow the first mouthful. Then there is a lovely citrus-yet-spicy character lingering in your mouth. The malt comes through in the alcohol; and this is an alcoholic beer at 6.9%, yet I don’t actually want to taste malt in a beer like this. I enjoy them for the lovely fruity flavours they bring, but I equally dislike it when they are unbalanced e.g. with too many fruit flavours in place of malt. Yet this is balanced enough to provide a canvas for the fruit flavours.
But how does the Cali-Belgique IPA stand out. I’ll tell you how. The yeast strain gives it, in my opinion, a Imperial IPA taste, without the massive amount of alcohol (although this is suitably boozy). Yet it could stand out a little more in my opinion.
Overall I would give this an 8/10, not as good as Torpedo, but a damn sight better than a lot of IPA’s.
As ever put any comments in the comment box. Cheers
