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Richard Wong's picture

Judge's Review: 85 Rating - Tropical Darkroom Sour IPA by Coronado Brewing Co.

March, 2020

Tropical Darkroom Sour IPA

Tropical Darkroom Sour IPA

California
United States
Tropical Darkroom Sour IPA, Coronado Brewing Co.
Description 

Tropical Darkroom is a kettle sour IPA brewed and dry-hopped with fruit-forward Sabro and Mosaic hops, for a bright, tropical hop profile. The brewers then added fresh kiwi puree to counterbalance the clean sour notes of the beer, for a refreshingly tart and bitter brew, with lingering kiwi sweetness. “We used a boatload of kiwi in the beer—almost 13 pounds per barrel,” says Mark Theisen, Head Brewer, Coronado Brewing Company. “The Mosaic and Sabro dry-hop combo gives the beer a really nice tropical, piña colada-like quality that goes really well with the kiwi. The beer finishes tart, but not super sour. We really wanted to find the perfect balance between a kettle sour and an IPA, and I think we achieved that with this beer.”

Beverage Profile
ABV: 
6.5%
IBUs: 
40
Served at: 
45º F
Hops: 
Mosaic, Sabro

 

 


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Judges Rating: 
85
Aroma: 
22 / 24
Appearance: 
6 / 6
Flavor: 
31 / 40
Mouthfeel: 
9 / 10
Overall Impression: 
17 / 20

Tropical Darkroom Sour IPA by Coronado Brewing Co. doesn't fall under the IPA nor Sour category as it is a " Sour IPA " - a combination of the two. The most suitable category for this beer is #34B Mixed-Style Beer under the 2015 BJCP Guidelines. The beer poured a nice viscous color reminiscent of honey (a golden color) with very good clarity and very nice carbonation. The bubbles seemed champagne-like as it rose up the glass. The aroma of this beer was somewhat acidic (vinegar-like) as expected for a sour. Hop aroma was negligible. The flavor of this beer was a nice balance between tart/sour and hoppiness. The IBUs for this beer were listed at 40, which just made the threshold for an IPA, which is between 40-70 IBU. It was more leaning towards sourness/tartness than bitterness. Bittering could be upped a little bit more to balance out the flavors, however. With this kettle sour it was considered somewhat milder. The sourness and tartness was there somewhat underwhelming. Maybe, this was done intentionally? It wasn't the 'mouth-puckering' sours that I have tried in the past. Had nice citrus like fruitiness due to this method that reminded me of oranges, grapefruit, etc. The body and mouthfeel of this beer was about medium. Again, very nice carbonation that was bubbly in the mouth that finished medium dry. The sour IPA had a very nice finish and again wasn't overwhelming in it's sourness and tartness, maybe more appealing to the new sour devotee?