Year of New Beer: Free Dive IPA, Coppertail Brewing (Tampa)

Written By: Dion on 06/27/2015

People always ask me where I find all of my different beers. My fellow beer nerds know that beer production and distribution is a tricky game. In the simplest of terms, not all beer is available in all places. So when beer nerds travel, we have a tendency to geek out over things we haven't seen before. Some are hits, lots are misses. I try to buy singles of new beers whenever possible so I don't get stuck with 5 more of something that's terrible. But then if it's really good, you're left kicking yourself for not buying more. Which brings me to tonight. Grabbed a random bottle to open and got an unbelievable aroma of juicy tropical/citrus fruits and pungent, dank hops. No letdown at all on the tastebuds as the fruits are bold--just dripping with grapefruit, mango, and pineapple. The hops start with a pine resin but turn quickly to herbal, sticking to the tongue with surprising intensity for a sub 6% IPA. A moderately sweet brown sugar malt provides the perfect backing. This is a really good beer. If only I had gotten a six pack.