Reviewed: Creature Comforts Tropicália IPA
Product description: Tropicália is a balanced, soft, and juicy IPA. A hop aroma of citrus and ripe passion fruit leads into a full, fruit-forward hop flavor that washes over the palate, and ends with a subtle bitterness. Tropicália is also the name of a Brazilian artistic movement that started in the late 1960s. It is best known today for its music, which merged Brazilian and African rhythms with rock and roll.
Creature Comforts Brewing – Creature Comforts Tropicália IPA – 12 oz. can poured into specialty glassware – 6.6% abv.
Isampled a couple of 12oz cans of this beer, Creature Comforts’ core IPA brand. Like their Automatic Pale Ale, this has the canned-on date and best before date labeled on the bottom of the can – a big plus.
Cracking this one open, Tropicália is brilliant, clear copper in color with a large-bubbled, tan head of foam that dissipates a little quicker than I expect for this style. The aroma brings orange juice, tangerine, vanilla cake, and fresh bread. The flavor is orange peel and slight caramel at the front moving to a nicely bitter, semi-dry mid-palate with a gritty malt character and heavy calcium component. The finish is dry and crisp just like the Automatic Pale Ale. Tropicália is lighter bodied for this style but, in turn, is very drinkable with a buoyant quality to the mouthfeel. The dryness plus bitterness does give it a slightly harsh finish like the Automatic. But it isn’t a major issue and the overall result is enjoyable and still quite drinkable. However, I liked the hop character on the Automatic more as it seemed distinctive and modern. Tropicália, on the other hand, is a familiar tasting beer focused on bitter orange peel with a grittier malt character and biting finish. It’s not as refreshing as the Automatic, as the mid-palate and finish are too mineral heavy in my opinion. But the beer is still very good and reminds me of the quintessential IPA flavor we all grew to love from many years ago. It’s old school all the way but still delicious.
