South Swell Double Ipa - Surf Brewery

vitALEity

California

4.63/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

A: Dark golden orange, huge head and fantastic lacing

S: Dry, spicy, earthy and tropical fruits

T: Earthy, floral, fruity, dry, bitter, some toasted malt. 9% is hidden well

M: Great body, not to thick. Resiny

O: Really good DIPA...Helps that it was just bottled this week! My second favorite central coast IPA after Double Jack

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2013 00:41:36 | More by vitALEity

brentusaurus

California

4.4/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

They finally bottled this one! Poured into a snifter.

A: A nice clear golden orange, almost peachy, with minimal head and lacing

S: Nice tropical fruits indicative of Nelson hops, citrus, a hint of pine, and a touch of booziness

T: Same as the nose, but with a slight toasty malt finish, great tropical fruit flavors

M: Medium bodied, not too thick or syrupy, can't taste the booze in this one at all, a pleasant but sharp bitterness at the end of the sip that coats the roof of my mouth

O: Very good DIPA, much better than I remembered the first time I had it at the brewery on tap. Super fresh, bottled yesterday! Definitely worth the try if you're in the area.

Serving type: bottle

08-29-2012 06:23:36 | More by brentusaurus

Gilmango

California

4.53/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On tap at Tony's Darts Away, this was the tastiest IPA or DIPA I found on my recent trip to LA. More golden than orange, huge aroma of pink grapefruit, sweet malt gives way to nice bitterness with a dry finish. I liked their PA as well, good brewery to keep an eye out for.

Serving type: on-tap

02-02-2012 00:24:41 | More by Gilmango

HuskyinPDX

Washington

2.78/5  rDev -33.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

On tap at the Ventura Brewpub on 1.25.2012

A - Served a medium to light cloudy orange with a smaller near white head. Great retention and lots of lacing.

S - Very fruity and sweet. Floral as well.

T - Sweet citrus fruit and soapy. Not the best taste I have had from an ipa.

D - Good carbonaton and an average body. A bitter bitter.

O - Started off great, but the taste was too soapy and floral for me to enjoy.

Serving type: on-tap

01-30-2012 05:41:01 | More by HuskyinPDX

UCLABrewN84

California

3.83/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On tap at Blue Palms Brewhouse in Los Angeles, CA.

Pours a clear light orange with a 1/2 inch puffy beige head that settles to a film on the top of the beer. Random streaks of lace form on the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus zest, and tropical fruit aromas. Taste is of malt, citrus zest, and somewhat subdued tropical fruit flavors. A high level of bitterness on the palate after each sip. This beer has a higher level of carbonation with a super crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good DIPA but the bitterness is somewhat high.

Serving type: on-tap

12-18-2011 05:25:04 | More by UCLABrewN84

charlzm

California

3.55/5  rDev -14.7%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Consumed November 5th, 2011 at the brewery. Reviewed from notes.

Appearance is medium gold with a proper one finger white head.

Aroma has an unfortunate ammonia component (simcoe hops?). Also has a solvent note in addition to the more agreeable red grapefruit and pine.

Flavor is sweet crystal malt followed by all kinds of hop flavors: pepper, pine, red grapefruit. Bitter on finish.

Mouthfeel is oily and slightly dry.

Drinkability is not hampered by the off-notes in the nose, though you need to enjoy strong hop flavor to like this one.

Serving type: on-tap

12-13-2011 21:53:50 | More by charlzm

dbmernin83

California

4.2/5  rDev +1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A decent little brewery puts put a great DIPA.
Pours golden copper with spotting lacing.
A fruit bomb on the nose. Smells awesome. Mangos, pineapple, grapefruit.
Sweet fruits first then a rip of delicious hop bitterness that lasts.
One way to win over us west coasters is a great DIPA. Score one point Ventura Brewering.

Serving type: on-tap

11-27-2011 23:23:07 | More by dbmernin83

Srsly

California

4.35/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

On tap at Blue Palms, believe it or not

A - gold colored and cloudy, it has that glow that lots of great DIPAs have. Head was big and off-white, but didn't stick around as long as I might have liked. Plenty of lacing.

S - I really liked the smell of this brew a lot. I feel like the Nelson hops are really obvious (as they should be), and though I haven't had a ton of beers that feature them prominently the smell was immediately recognizable, much like Alpine Nelson. I got plenty of pine, but also some tropical fruit and the ever-popular cat smell. Awesome.

T - The taste, i thought, actually leaned more towards the fruit side of things instead of the pine, which was very pleasant. I also got a little bit of herb or earthiness that I didn't really get in the nose. The malt is present but not at all dominant, in an excellent way. The finish is big and powerfully bitter.

M - Richer and a little more viscous than I expected, but still excellent.

O - I was very very impressed with this beer. I agree with the reviewer below who compared it broadly to a double version of Nelson. It was the first thing I've had from Surf Brewery, and now I really want to check out their other stuff. An all around stellar brew. Ventura, here I come.

Serving type: on-tap

09-16-2011 20:38:56 | More by Srsly

augustgarage

California

4.1/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On-tap @ Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood. Served in a goblet.

Hazy orange-peel liquid rests beneath a fat tower of shiny dense seashell cream. Pasty lacing, excellent retention.

Potent hops in the nose - herbaceous, catty, pine-sap, durian, gooseberries, passion fruit, and grapefruit seeds combine in an olfactory assault. Unusual and singular.

Very unique flavor profile as well - intensely fruity, floral and spicy. Moderately bitter, though any cutting quality (103 IBUs) is kept in check by unique malt counter-melodies. Olive oil, avocado, sandalwood, and other spicy oddities play with the palate into the finish.

Soft, slick, and rich with a pleasant prickly acidity.

A superb showcase of ingredients (Galaxy and Nelson hops along with two strains of caramel malt) with few easy analogs in terms of the flavor profile. All this while still punchy enough to satisfy the most demanding hop-heads. Happy to see they can produce a big daring brew in addition to their more session-able ales.

Serving type: on-tap

09-14-2011 18:39:04 | More by augustgarage

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

4.55/5  rDev +9.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On the tapper at blue palms. Orange and bright, looks like i like em

Amazing nelson hop aroma, armpits and hops.

Notes of beach fruit, mango and pineappke, just massive hop presence with mild bitterness.

Can u say best new dipa of 2011? Watch out for these guys, if they were from anywhere else, this would be going through lots off hype and a top 100 appearance.

If u like alpine nelson, this is for u. Its like double nelson

Serving type: on-tap

09-08-2011 21:43:47 | More by Beerandraiderfan