I have Lagunitas Trooper for my beer today. I have had this before, but.. As you can see the can is different, and this one is the West Coast IPA variant.  

I really didn’t even know until today that Ironmaidenbeer had a whole line of beers. I have only seen the original Trooper, an ESB which is fantastic by the way, and now this 6.6% “West Coast” style of IPA.

Pouring this bright almost fluorescent slightly, maybe more than slightly hazy yellow bodied beer with a very firm looking, rocky white head, I’m already getting blasted with grapefruit and pine. Very big aromas. Starting to get more resiny, the more you sniff around, but it is the grapefruit that is way out in front, and sort of a mix of regular grapefruit and the red. 

In the tasting, the first thing you get or notice is the bitterness. A very welcome resinous bitter that just is nowhere to be found any more. While there is a good amount of the grapefruit in the taste, it is much more piney here. Not a dank blaster, but it is starting to edge in that direction.

The Krush hops have a perfect balance of citrusy and that pine.

And following all of that hopping is in fact a bit of grainy maltiness to keep things aligned. 

That bitterness they say is coming in at 55 IBU and with the middle zone body and dryer finish, it feels a bit more than that,, or maybe I’m just not used to having higher IBU any more.

OMG. This is the IPA I am always searching for nowadays. It is an almost perfect example of what we old guys call “old school IPAs” Even though it has big hop aroma, big hop taste, big(er) bitterness, everything is in the right amounts and nothing is harsh.

This,, THIS, is what an IPA should be. I’m giving a very rare 5 for this trip down memory lane. Do not wait on this. Go get it. Lagunitas Trooper West Coast IPA.