Deschutes Pinedrops IPA

This West Coast IPA is like that sweet little Nordic trail off the main trail of Meissner - it takes the high road. Using Pilsner base malt, it is light on malt but not hops. With a hop bill consisting of Amarillo, Centennial, Northern Brewer, and experimental hop X, we packed in the pine along with the citrus notes we love.

3.5

414 reviews

Bend, United States

Community reviews

3.3 355 ml bottle @ home. BBE 10.05.2017. Pours clear golden color with a large white head. Aroma has mandarin and mild hops, some pine needles, caramel notes, mild malts and pineapple. Flavor is somewhat juicy fruity with pineapple and mandarin, sadly the age shows a bit with subtle cardboard notes, some malt bitterness on the finish, faint resin. Not very fresh with the hops anymore but otherwise a decent fruity IPA. 4414

3.5 I have a cold, but I won’t let that get me down. This is a hoppy pine forest. The malt profile is like Rene Descartes. Rene Descartes, you ask? Rene Descartes walks into a bar and orders many Deschutes Pinedrops IPAs. Later, the bartender says to him, ‘I think you’ve had enough.’ Descartes spits out his latest unmalty mouthful and say, ‘I think not!’ and he disappears.

4.0 Appearance: hazy straw with one finger of loose white head, good retention and lacing. (4/5) Aroma: resiny pine, citrus, clean pale and caramel malt, tropical fruit, floral. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-high bitter, light tart. (8/10) Palate: medium-light body, lively carbonation, crisp dry bitter finish. (4/5) I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting here, but this? This’ll do. This’ll do, and then some. Resiny evergreen and citrus lead the way over a solid but unobtrusive malt backbone, followed by pineapple and mango tropical and floral notes. Feels pretty fresh, and the best-by date supports that: Deschutes’ normal guideline for their best-by dates is 120 days for lighter beers (200 for dark) so that suggests a bottling date of 25-Jan-2017 or so, and an age of 64 days right now. I always like to get IPAs as fresh as possible (Belgian and Brett styles excluded, of course), but ninety days is a reasonable time frame to expect a West coast style to retain freshness, so although I’d like to find it fresher (preferably under 30 days) I’m pretty happy with this. (16/20) 8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

3.4 Interesting, Forest scented, like tree sap, very different. Malty and very crisp. Tastes of hops and clean airy pines. I liked it, but one is plenty. Honestly, made me think of Pine Sol, although it didn’t taste bad. From a bottle, at a friends jome.

3.8 Really bitter with a dry bite. It's missing a little bit on complexity, but overall I think it's a good choice.

3.6 Bottle. Gold pour. Flavor is pine, grass, straw, light sugary sweetness, light Amarillo hops (only way I know how to describe Amarillo is to name it) light bitterness. Tingly mouth feel. Lighter body. Extremely easy to pound.

3.6 Gravity Cask Half Pint at GBBF 2015, Olympia, London Aug 2015 - Pale Gold in colour. Average off-white head. Good lacing. Very Fruity; tangy citrus orange and grapefruit. Hoppy; piney resinous hops. Malty; toasty malts, some caramel. Bitter fruity hoppy throughout. Dry bitter finish. Nice IPA! (2015-08-11)

3.3 Very enjoyable as long as you like hoppy pine aroma and taste, very crisp and bitter at once.

3.3 Bottle in Alamogordo before QF-4 retirement. Deep gold color with a big foamy white head. Big fruity, piney aroma that escapes the head cap. Very mild flavor with some earthy, mineral bitterness. Okay.

3.7 Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy golden orange color with white head. Pine, lemon, citrus, hoppy, resiny, conifer forest aromas. Pine is clearly front-most in the flavor, but a good mixture of piney/resiny hop and lemony/citrus hop flavors. Damn fine IPA, glad I picked up a sixer of this.

3.8 355ml bottle into shaker. Cloudy golden beer with solid craggy white head. Great fresh floral nose. Smells of pine of course but also grass, malt and pepper. Oily texture, lovely mouthfeel. Great fruity/bitter finish. The first beer I’ve had that tastes of pine AND pineapple. Good malt background. Right at the end there’s a funky umami note. Excellent, easy to drink but still complex and interesting.

3.2 12 oz bottle pours a slightly hazy golden orange with moderate off-white head that leaves good lacing. Aroma is tropical fruit, pine resin, and sweet citrus. Taste is slightly dank and bitter, with some sweetness in the middle, before a long dry, and almost sour finish. There’s something dank and disconcerting in the aftertaste Body is medium with average carbonation. I’ve enjoyed every Deschutes brew I’ve tried more than this one.

2.2 Very odd. I thought maybe this was expired, but I checked the day. It’s Oct 10 now, and this is best before Nov. 23, so it should still be good. Cloudy yellow body, white head some lacing. Off-putting aroma of blue cheese, pineapple. Taste is dry, some hops, pine, etc. but not great. I almost have to plug my nose while drinking this. There’s gotta be something off with this bottle. Perhaps I’ll try it again if I get another bottle, but as is this is borderline drain pour...though, of course, I never actually pour beer down the drain.

3.1 bottled - cloudy golden/amber color. Flavor of pine and hops. Piney hoppy aroma too. Just ok but I’m not a big fan of the pine flavor.

3.4 Draft @ the Portland brewpub. Distinctly piney/woody hoppiness lives up to the moniker. On the drier side. Unique flavor profile.

3.7 Clean pale golden color wth small white head. Aroma is tangy grassy fruity sweet wth melon and straw. Taste is also grassy sweet with more melon and danky weed. Medium bodied with good carbonation. Overall, Nice one

4.3 Deschutes have a way of naming their beers that basically tells it as it is. Pine Drops! Its pine in the nose all the way through to the pallet. Tastes like your drinking fresh pine juice. Nice and hoppy.

3.0 Pine, moss, and marigold nose. Hazy amber, medium head, good lace. Marigold, marijuana, and collards, grain husk finish. Gym sock overtones. Medium body, easy carbonation, resinous. I’m not a fan of the hop bill.

3.6 Clear, bright light orange. Frothy white head. Pine mixed nicely with sweet caramel. Some sweet citrus as well. Maybe too sweet, but very tasty. Mild bitterness. Thankfully pine isn’t harsh or cloying.

4.4 Bright citrus herbal aroma, and dry bitter hoppiness and citrus peel notes. Fairly light in body with a pleasantly astringent finish. Crisp and clean, not malty sweet.

2.9 Poured from bottle. Aroma of a danky, freshly rained on forest, which is a bit refreshing compared to the stereotypical IPAs. But when the taste matches the aroma, leaving you with a foresty, pine-forward aftertaste, that’s where I draw the line. Other than that, it’s a decent middle of the road IPA.

4.1 12 ounce bottle, 3/19/16. Hazy golden, medium foamy white head, decent retention. Aroma of tropical fruit, grapefruit, pine, pale malt. The taste is tropical fruit, grapefruit, lime, pale malt. Medium bodied, lingering bitterness.

3.5 Bottle from Evernote in Redwood City, CA. Aroma is pine, vegetal, mild marmalade. Taste is light pine, bitter vegetal hops. Not offensive but this one is a miss for me.

2.9 Pine drops Pours golden Amber with a massive foamy white head that laces massively. Aroma is grass and piney hops. Taste is short with a touch of citrus; pine and hopped bitterness dominates. Not great.

3.6 12oz bottle from Whole Foods (Charlottesville, VA). Aromas of fresh pine, orangey citrus. Clear orange with a mostly lasting white head. Dry, pretty well balanced, some citrus, mostly piney. Medium bodied.

4.0 I like the light grain bill with the use of Pilsner malt allowing the hop resin to prevail through. While there isn’t much heft on the malt side, there is no compromising the flavor in style points. This is the fresh cut christmas tree brought home but scinetifically modified to be a beverage enjoyed by hop heads. A nice pine aroma and flavor assisted by a light citrus twang. Another personal summertime favorite.

3.0 Pours a clear golden amber with a thin white head. Aroma of sweet citrus. Light carbonation with some lacing. Fairly bitter citrus rind taste with some pine notes. Smooth finish with a sticky bitter aftertaste on the roof of the mouth. Not very refreshing or enjoyable.

3.7 Nice golden color; Medium body; Aroma of malt, pungent hops, some caramel, & citrus; Flavor of slight sweet malt, nice pine hops, some caramel, and citrus; Nicely balanced; Pretty good.

4.1 Sampled @ GBBF day 1. Hazy yellow color, small to average sized white head. Smell and taste malts, nice tropical fruity aroma and flavor, fruit hops, fruit hop bitter. Nice!

3.8 Pour from a 12oz bottle. Darker golden brew with creamy white head, great head retention and lacing. Great aroma of clean pine, resin, some citrus notes. Taste is a great light sweet malt up front blending into a fine and complex hops medley that mirrors the aroma - pine, tart fruit, pine, citrus and more pine. It all belnds together well - strongly hopped but graceful as well. I really like the notable but restrained malt up front - enough malt to balance the abundant hops but light and agile enough to keep out of the way. Great brew.