Back in 2012 Johnny from Weathered Beer/Farmhouse Fest sent me a sampling of beers that he knew I would like, including an India Pale Ale that would become the gold standard of West Coast IPAs for the entire world - an IPA from Victoria, BC's Driftwood Brewing - Fat Tug IPA, one of the very IPAs that I still regard as one of my top 10 beers after all these years, it's so good that any time it goes on sale or has "bonus Air Miles" (RIP), I'd buy it just because it seemed worth it to me. I haven't read my initial review of Fat Tug in 14 years, but I still remember the very day I first tried it very well. I was at the (then) family farm and was about to review it but was distracted by one of the last ever grain freight trains going right by the farm, So I briefly left to see the train go by the farm. I came back to sample the beer again. I knew that this was one of a kind, I've had many West Coast IPAs but Driftwood's Fat Tug has always held up as the gold standard after all these years - it just taste like how you'd want it to taste. So for this review, I tried to find the perfect glass.. but I had to settle with the least branded glass I had.
Appearance: This has a quite clear and caramel/honey body to it, light amount of carbonation in the body, and a light-to-moderate amount of off-white head on top. You don't really see IPAs like this anymore, they're typically cloudy and orange (because this isn't a Hazy).
Aroma: It has a sweet, tropical, and bitter presence to it. There's a caramel malt presence that gives it a good amount of sweetness to it, there's a very heavy pine-forward bitterness, and finally - there's a moderate amount of grapefruit bite to it.. but of course there's lemon and a bit of orange peel.
Taste: The bitterness comes out right from the very first sip - it's got a pine presence to it, a tad floral, and a tad bit of pepper at the end (which will come into play coming up next..). The tropical presence is grapefruit so it's a sweet, bitter fruitiness but has that slight pepperiness that I just described in the previous sentence. There's also a good amount of a caramel/toffee sweetness to it from the malt. I know that a lot of people wouldn't care for an IPA like this in this era.. but I do.
Now how does it compare to my review back in 2012? This has definitely cleared up a bit since 2012. The aroma has definitely subdued a bit but it's a lot more consistent since they were the new kid on the block back then - there's definitely grapefruit, lemon and possibly a bit of alfalfa in the current era version of the beer. The taste definitely isn't AS bitter as it was in 2012.. I do remember it being BITTER but the biggest complaint about IPAs is that they're overly bitter to begin with. It's still bitter and yeah, it would still make my parents cringe but the caramel sweetness makes it a bit more welcoming now. Fat Tug was one of the top IPAs in the world back in 2012.. and it still is in 2026!
Hey Len, I dedicate this to you - you made fun of my palate 10-15 years ago. You lovingly told me about all the Vancouver Island breweries - I know you'd appreciate this review.. I wish I could've had a beer with you. Miss you, man.
Check out my 2012 review
No comments:
Post a Comment