ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast · ABV Chicago

SoCal Hops

·1 hr 34 min·9 clips

Ryan says the Stratacadabra IPA tastes like garlic olive oil—it gets the job done but lacks a soul.

This episode of ABV Chicago features hosts Ryan and Craig sampling a selection of West Coast hoppy beers sent by listener Dave Adams from San Diego. The hosts, known for their conversational and often humorous craft beer reviews, dive into a lineup of five San Diego-area IPAs. They begin with a playful debate over whether Bruce Springsteen is wearing jean shorts on the "Born in the U.S.A." album cover. The first beer reviewed is Society Brewing's The Coachman, a 4.9% session IPA using Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe hops that won GABF gold in 2015 and 2018. Next is Pure Project's Murk Turtle, a 7% hazy IPA with El Dorado, Citra Cryo, and Nelson hop abstracts, brewed to support leatherback sea turtle conservation. The third beer is North Park Beer Company's Stratacadabra, a 7.2% West Coast double dry-hopped IPA featuring Strata, multiple Citra products, and Freestyle Nelson Sauvin hops. The hosts note The Coachman has a pungent aroma with dank, oniony Simcoe notes and a perfect balance of flavor and sessionable body. They find Murk Turtle offers white grape and dank candy notes with a restrained sweetness and acceptable bitterness. Stratacadabra presents an intensely pungent, almost pure hop oil aroma reminiscent of cannabis but tastes manufactured, lacking a cohesive soul despite its potency. Ryan and Craig express concern that heavy use of hop extracts and oils, as in the Stratacadabra, can create a processed character compared to traditional pellet hopping. They discuss the freshness of IPAs, agreeing that three-month-old beers like The Coachman can still taste excellent. The hosts also share personal anecdotes, like Ryan's garlic olive oil analogy and a memory of seeing Society Brewing's team at Hops & Pie in Denver. The tone is highly conversational, humorous, and digressive, filled with inside jokes and lighthearted debates beyond the beer. Listeners who enjoy casual, beer-focused banter and insights into West Coast IPA trends will appreciate this episode. Those seeking a tightly structured, purely educational beer review might find the tangents and humor distracting.

As heard by us

A dank hop flight that stays funny while still paying attention.

The episode spends its first stretch on Springsteen jorts before it settles into West Coast, San Diego area hoppy beers. From there it moves fast into the useful stuff: a big dank aroma, a first sip burn that gets argued over in real time, and enough attention to what each IPA…

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Why you'd press play

You want West Coast hop chaos with tasting notes that drift from dank citrus to a hot first sip.

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