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Went to O’Brien’s pub for Green Flash Brewing Co. night (7/17) with two fellow BoozeReviewers to celebrate the brewery’s Best of Show award for West Coast IPA at the San Diego County Fair last month. West Coast IPA is tied for first as my favorite cask beer (Nelson from Alpine Beer Company is the other favorite), so we were all looking forward to this momentous occasion. As an added bonus, brewer Chuck Silva was there share some beers and answer questions about his great brew. What a night!

The beer pours a hazy orange color with some sediment due to the cask conditioning. The initial smell that I got was the floral/citrus aroma of the Simcoe and Cascade hops, and a slight casky whiff. The first taste was creamy deliciousness; the creaminess was like eating one of those orange/vanilla ice cream pops, only one that tasted like a really good IPA. Fantastically drinkable. I threw back two in the first twenty minutes; my fear that the cask would be blown quickly made me rush! After seeing that the cask wouldn’t be one of those half-hour and gone experiences I slowed down and began to appreciate the subtle qualities of this uber-brew.

So what type of subtle qualities are we talking about? This question seems to ask what the difference is between a beer on cask/barrel and the same beer out of a keg? Obviously, casking IPA’s adds a smoother and creamier texture to the beer. There really is a lot to be said when an IPA is mellowed in this fashion. You just don’t get as much of the hoppy mouth pucker after taking a big gulp. Also, the head on this beer seemed to last longer with the cask conditioning. The head lasted until the last drop of beer was in the glass. Pretty cool shit!

Overall, this is one awesome beer that is great out of the bottle or on draft. But do yourself a favor and search out a cask of West Coast IPA from Green Flash. This beer on cask is the pinnacle of what San Diego Pale Ale should be.

Official BoozeReviews Score: 100/100

L’Chaim!

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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