SweetWater Brewing Company’s Goin’ Coastal is an IPA with pineapple. It sounds like a great addition to a summer lineup. Today we find out if it is.
The beer poured a hazy gold with a solid white head that got to a little over a finger before dissipating (I blame the glass on this one). There is a fair amount of bubbles rising slowly to the surface, almost as if they don’t want to go to the top of the glass. The aroma is one of pineapple and hops with a little pine mixed in from the hops.
The first sip is actually a bit of a shock. I mean this in a good way. You would expect a lot of pineapple to assault your senses but that just isn’t the case here at all. The pineapple taste is present at the beginning of the sip but you get the hoppy presence of the IPA on the follow through. It is well balanced, which is surprising as it is easy to mess a sweet fruit and IPA merger up. This is just well balanced.
This beer is an IPA with notes of pineapple. The pineapple doesn’t take center stage but rather compliments the IPA in a great way. The hops aren’t overshadowed.
As the beer drank it kept its consistency and flavor. There was a fair amount of lacing on the glass. I feel there would have been more but I blame my glass for this. There was a thin layer of foam on top of the beer throughout which provided the lacing.
Goin’ Coastal clocks in at 6.1% ABV so this is something you can enjoy during the day. It is sweet enough to make it interesting without being overly sweet. This is a fun beer that finds its balance between being just right in the sweet department while staying true to its IPA roots.