Lundy, my beer mail pal from B.C. recently sent me a care package of various west coast beer not available on the prairies. One of the bottles was a beer from the small upstart Tofino Brewing on Vancouver Island. I have been curious about this brewery since they opened. Tofino is a small, environmentally conscious community whose economy relies on forestry and tourism (which can create interesting conflicts). Opening a brewery there is a challenging prospect, I would think. So I was glad to give the beer a try.

The bottle Lundy sent was their Hoppin’ Cretin IPA, which they call simply their IPA, but its stats suggest something a bit bolder than that. At 7.5% alcohol and 60 IBUs, that suggests an IPA on the aggressive end of the scale.

The appearance seems normal enough. It pours dark orange with a thick, dense off-white head that lasts a long time and leaves behind a decent lacing. Great clarity. It is in the aroma where you start to see what is going on here. It has a HUGE grapefruit hop aroma. It also has a decent level of soft malt in the background, but did I mention grapefruit hops? And if that wasn’t enough, IK also detect some lemon and pine in the background. This beer is about the hops, no question.

Upfront the malt is soft with a slight biscuit, toffee and touches of ripe fruit. the middle is kind of watery and then hop comes in late. It starts as a moderate citrus flavour and then slowly builds, becoming more complex as it evaporates – pine, grapefruit, passionfruit, lemon and other tropical fruit. The linger is quite pleasant. It doesn’t present quite as big as it is, although it is pretty damned big.

What we have here is a hop-accented, forward beer. The hopping is great. I do think the front seems a bit flabby and the middle needs something more. Otherwise it is a lovely IPA – bold, big and brash. This is about the hops.

Just like the town it resides in, no compromises for this beer. Did I mention grapefruit??