ACME California IPA by North Coast Brewing Co.
ACME is a defunct San Francisco brewery started over a hundred years ago. North Coast, out of Fort Bragg, California, is giving it a revival of sorts. ACME used classic pin-up girl art from such luminous names in the field as Alberto Vargas and George Petty in much of its advertisement in the ’30s and ’40s. North Coast repeats this with the smiling girl in the golden yellow dress swinging by on a rope with a pint of beer in hand. The beer’s color is a nice deep gold that seems appropriate for one made in the Golden State. Though a homage to California’s brewing past, This IPA is definitely a modern beer. While this isn’t the hoppiest IPA I’ve ever had it does still have the requisite amount for an American-style India Pale Ale. There’s plenty of bitterness and zip and pep, to use words popular in ACME’s heyday. Hops generally take on one of two flavor characteristics, citrus or pine/leaf. In ACME California IPA, the citrus side reigns supreme. I taste hints of grapefruit but also a bit of apricot in the beginning, which isn’t generally a flavor associated with hops. There’s a bit of pine though in the finish. The malt is very understated, which is what you want in a good IPA. It mostly manifests itself in the somewhat creamy head and the overall easy drinkability despite the dominant hop characteristic and the 6.9 percent ABV. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and I look forward to trying more of North Coast’s ACME beers if I ever see any.
