Episode Notes

Episode 64: Left Coast Orange County IPA

It’s the Two Minute Beer Review!

I’m Andrew Burkum and it’s that time of the week again where we pick a bottle from that massive craft brew aisle hoping to find a hidden treasure.

This week we’re going to take a look at Orange County IPA by Left Coast Brewing in San Clemente, CA. Is this one a perfect companion for that trip to the beach? Let’s find out!!

Orange County IPA pours golden orange and slightly hazy. It smells of apricot and ripe bananas with a little bit of orange blossom in the background.

But what about the taste? According to the website, “We create a slight sweetness and bitterness by adding California grown oranges to the boil.” Well it definitely shows in the flavor. The beer starts up front with a nice, strong hop bitterness. Then it develops out into fruity and tart but not too sweet fruitiness with that signature orange leading the way. At the end of the swallow there’s way more bitterness left over than I would have expected from the strength of the fruit flavor in the beer, but I’m definitely not complaining.

Orange County IPA is a drinker for sure. It’s got both the hop bitterness and the fruit juiciness to make it a grade-A IPA offering in what we know is an oversaturated market. If you’re a lover of IPAs at all, I recommend you run out and grab this wherever you can find it. Orange County IPA clocks in with a 7.1% ABV, so it’s right in the not-too-strong, not-too-weak category where I like it.

Well that’s all for this week, but I hope you’ll join me next week as I take a look at Oatmeal Stout from East Brother Beer Company in Richmond, CA. Is this the Stout we’ve been looking for? We’ll find out next week! Look for links to this week’s beer and brewery in the show notes.

Don’t forget to let me know what you’re drinking and what you’re thinking about the show. Tweet me @2minutebeer with the number two or drop me an email at [email protected]. And if you’re listening to the show on your favorite podcast app, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and leave a review to help other people find the show. You can also support us with a small donation on our Patreon—there’s a link in the show notes.

That’s all for now, but I’ll see you next week as we continue on our quest to taste all the beer!

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Music: River Meditation by Jason Shaw used under Creative Commons License

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