Hop Pound

Four Legs Brewing — Brentwood, CA

14 Apr 2021 · Stephen

West Coast IPA Four Legs Brewing

7.3% ABV

73 IBU

Clear golden Color

Contributing Factors

Presentation ✓

Character ✓

Experience ✓

Return –

3 / 4 A solid effort

Tasting Notes

Appearance Clear golden, bright with a persistent white head. The clarity is the statement — every other beer in the California craft sour/hazy tide goes opaque, and Hop Pound goes the other direction deliberately. Looks exactly like a classic West Coast IPA should look, and the 73 IBU sits right behind it waiting to be discovered.

Aroma Hop-forward and direct. Citrus and tropical fruit lead — orange and grapefruit most likely from the hop bill, with a resinous pine note building underneath. The clarity of the beer carries through to the aroma: nothing obscuring the hop character, nothing competing with it.

Palate Medium-full body, clean malt backbone providing structure without weight. The hop bitterness builds assertively through the mid-palate — 73 IBU landing firmly and clearly, tropical fruit and citrus riding above it rather than being overtaken. This is a beer that makes no effort to hide its bitterness and no effort to distract from it. Clean, clear, and honest from first sip to last.

Finish Long, dry, and resinous. The bitterness sustains well past the sip — 73 IBU doing exactly what 73 IBU does, leaving a clean, hop-oil dryness on the back palate that fades slowly and completely. The kind of finish that makes a taproom drinker order another and a can drinker wish they'd bought more.

The Verdict

Four Legs keeps it to four words and lets 73 IBU say the rest. Hoppy Clear West Coast IPA — a California craft flagship built for the drinker who doesn't need the haze. Bitter, fresh, loyal. Cheers.

— Stephen · Contributing Factor Brewing · 14 Apr 2021