Port Brewing Company- Hop 15: Land Ho!!!

Well, I’m only a week into my self-imposed month long IPA reviewing ban and I’ve managed to break the ban already.  I’m sorry but I cannot resist IPA’s.  I am an admitted junkie and now that I think of it…I’m not really that sorry.  The last week has felt like being stuck out on the ocean with no hope of land in sight.  I have been desperately dreaming of making it back to port and firmly planting my feet on the IPA mainland.  So to break the curse it had to be an IPA that was worthy of a trip back to familiar territory and that brew would be Port Brewing Company’s Hop 15 Double IPA.  Being a Double IPA does that really count towards the ban??

Port Brewing Company classifies this beer as an Imperial IPA and their website describes Hop 15 as, “Welcome to San Diego- Home to Hop Heads on every corner and THE best place in the world to live if you enjoy Humulus Lupulus and the smell of a well hopped beer. 

This is Southern California, it’s the place where Blind Pig started the Imperial IPA revolution and San Diego Brewers have continued to be at the forefront of its evolution. 

Today, fans of Double IPA come from every corner of the globe in search of many of the world’s best and most incredibly well hopped beers.  It’s no secret that you can find many of them at Port Brewing as well.  Like you, we love these beers and mostly we enjoy the happiness they bring us.

First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby as a celebration of 15 years of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer.”

Hop 15 has 15 different hop varieties added to the beer every 15 minutes.  Over the years, Hop 15 has racked up numerous accolades.  It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival.  It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and 2008, and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA.

Hop 15 remains one of the stickiest most resinous beers we have ever tasted and for that, we are thankful it is on tap at our brewery each and every day.”

Hop 15 pours a syrupy caramel color with a creamy 1 ¼” off white head and strong hop, mild malt and faint grapefruit & piney aromas and is a stout 9.7% ABV.

Land Ho!!  This was well worth breaking the ban for at least one day of shore leave.  The complexity of this brew is overwhelming.  Hop 15 has a split second sweet malt start and is all bite the rest of the way through until the very finally when it ever so briefly finishes with a slight return of smooth malty sweetness again with lingering grapefruit exclamation point.  At 9.7% ABV this brew warms as it goes down and is one of the strongest Imperial IPA’s I have had to this point.  It is no wonder that this brew has not only won multiple awards but is rated very highly within the Craft Beer community as it is a truly great Imperial IPA.  If you are a Hophead and love Craft Brews of the IPA variety then I highly suggest that you head for the shore and grab a Hop 15 and enjoy while you can because the last thing you want is to be caught A.W.O.L.

ABV: 9.7%

Consumed: New Belgium Globe Glass

Verdict: Buy A Twelve Pack