Beer – #754 – Coronado – Stingray Imperial IPA
Well it’s Friday evening, the day after St.Patricks when the choice appears to have been Guinness or Kilkenny who seem to have cornered that market. So breaking the shackles and moving offshore for a change I chose the Stingray IPA. Live a little.
“A little bit fruity.”
41 IBU’s in this beer, which I filled at the growler station for 1 litre, 7.9% ABV beverage with around 237 calories a serve size, making this about 6.23 standard drink units in NZ
Brewed by Coronado Brewing Company in the style that we have as Imperial IPA and that was in Coronado, California USA
Doing the Troy Tempest…
Named after a serene Coronado shoreline where locals soak up sun and suds.
This easy-drinking IPA will transport you to a tropical paradise the moment it hits your lips. Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and Southern Cross hops provide flavors and aromas of tropical fruits and sun-kissed citrus with soft accents of nectarine and peach.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
It’s much paler orange than some other IPA beers I’ve had, and then it’s as the same as many I’ve had too, colour and taste variations abound. Top popped like a cheap firework, lot of pent up bubbles getting an escape.
Pour is pretty much a 50/50 affair with I was hoping wouldn’t happen, but I’m a clumsy pour. Aroma as you would expect is that grassy sharp note, and that tart citrus thing that things like grapefruit have about them,
It is also surprisingly mild bitterness in the drinking this, quite placid and laid back, that lovely head settling into a thick dollop of white foam. Surprisingly though it is fairly dry for a long way at the finish, not just at the end.
Enjoyable sweetness adds to a nice overall mouthfeel in drinking this, little zesty pops here and there, with some slightly stronger notes underneath, it is really the laid back beer.
Hard to pick any one thing that makes this such a joy, probably easy to pick the thing it does not have that makes it a joy. It is lovely to get a lesson in a slightly higher ABV beer that does not have high pucker or arid dryness, and comes with smooth soft flavours.
Not a lot wrong with the world when you have beer like this to hand I recon. Seriously this is rather easy, and rather good drinking.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. Based only the fact that I think this is really decent drinking, it has no high demands, does not test you out, not frowning, puckering, or peeling your tongue off the roof of the mouth, but then it does not give you a lot of reward in fruity or tropical tastes either, it’s all a bit calm and easy going, a bit too easy to enjoy and I found myself looking at an empty glass forlornly.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? Blanc Out West, who sadly are closing soon, I hope they get a new store.
- Am I enjoying it? I am, it isn’t often you get a big beer that pretends to be a little beer.
- Would I have another? It would be impolite not to.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Easy yes to that, this is perhaps the ideal sit and yarn beer, the most appropriate profile and taste beer for that that I have had in ages.
Music for this: “The Moth and the Flame ” with ” Young & Unfraid” on the Spotify
The Moth & The Flame, sometimes known by initialism TMTF, is an American alternative rock band based in Los Angeles. I was somewhat underwhelmed if I was honest, I might have enjoyed something slightly louder, or punchy, but I did listen all the way through, because that’s polite, and did get rewarded with something better later in the album.
IMPERIAL/DOUBLE IPA
Imperial IPA, Double IPA or DIPA is a strong, often sweet, intensely hoppy version of the traditional India Pale Ale. Bitterness units range upward of 100 IBUs and alcohol begins at 7.5% but is more commonly in the 8.5-10% range. The flavour profile is intense all-round. Unlike barley wines, the balance is heavily towards the hops, with crystal and other malts providing support
A life just as ordinary 