Reviewed: Pizza Port Pickleweed Point IPA

Product description: Tucked away from easy sight in San Diego’s north county is a right reef that longtime locals call “Pickleweed Point.” The name comes from surrounding native California plants that only grow near salt water.

Pickleweed Point IPA will be our next limited can release, and will be available in the Summertime months. This beer, which was formerly known as Offshore IPA, is brewed with oats for a creamy mouthfeel and Citra, Hull Melon, and Motueka hops for a tropical hop profile.

Snag your 6-packs at any Pizza Port pub starting May 11th. We will also be distributing these cans to stores near you!

Pizza Port Brewing – Pizza Port Pickleweed Point IPA – 16 oz. can poured into an imperial pint glass 6.2% abv.

Trying this the day it was canned, Pickleweed Point IPA is the newest canned release from Pizza Port. This was originally for sale at the brewpub locations only, but should be hitting normal distribution as well like Graveyards Pale has done in the past.

Cracking this one open, it is clear, straw yellow in color generating thick, voluminous foam that towers out above the rim of my nonic pint glass. The aroma begins soft and subdued with sourdough bread, mild lemon zest, grassy hops, and touches of white grape (perhaps from the Hull Melon hops). As it warms, the nose intensifies with heavier white grape and honeysuckle, clarified butter, and doughy bread rolls.

Flavor-wise, Pickleweed is typical for a Pizza Port IPA: chewy and bready malt-focused in the base with aggressive bitterness that lasts through a long finish. Pithy white grapefruit and perfumey orange oils throughout the body overpower just about everything else. The finish is then quite lengthy and revolves around wet sourdough. The difference between this and, say, Graveyards and Solana Beach IPA (two that taste similarly to this one) is that Pickleweed starts slightly anesthetic on the palate with mouth-coating hop oils that approach something like menthol or camphor.

Overall, this is heavier-bodied, super bitter, but nicely balanced in true Pizza Port fashion with a dense enough base beer to offset the IBU level. The flavor is a bit rough around the edges, but the oat addition is a nice touch and gives the beer an extra chewy quality. I still greatly prefer the Solana Beach IPA, though.