The Best of 2009: #1

AleSmith IPA

Brewery: AleSmith, San Diego, California

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV: 7.25%

Rating: 5 stars


Since I've let these rankings drag well into 2010, the motivation to write extensive reviews is lacking. I've also been spending mucho tiempo preparing for imminent child birth, caring for my bed-resting wife and getting another blog up and running.

I'll give you a little background on where this one came from, though. We were in Phoenix in early December for a wedding, and I wanted to pick up a sampling of high-class West Coast brews we can't get here in the Great White North. I bought about a dozen bombers, including Deschutes The Abyss, Port Brewing Wipeout IPA, Lost Coast Indica IPA and Left Coast Hop Juice. Our free drinking time in Arizona was limited, so I had to smuggle five of them back in my airplane luggage. All five made it successfully.

So there I was, in my kitchen a few days later, with a tulip glass and a giant bottle of AleSmith IPA. This was very exciting. Simply put, it was the perfect IPA. Floral and lively, bitter and sticky, potent but drinkable. And fairly cheap!

If I was a Californian, though my IPA options would be massive, I'd find it difficult to make a pass through a beer store without grabbing one. Or more. I guess I don't have anything more to say.