Tale of Two IPA's

We had a wonderful basil and pine nut pizza at Oggi's in Mission Viejo tonight. For those that aren't familiar with Oggi's they are a sports oriented pizza/brewpub that have several franchises in California and Arizona.  They have also started to bottle some of their brews under the label Left Coast Brewing. 

I started with one of their standards: Torrey Pines IPA.  It's a 7.6% ABV with five different hops.  This beer almost tastes like it was brewed in the middle of Torrey Pines.  It has a great woodsy/pine taste.  The hops really take all the glory with this beer, you don't taste too much else.  Which isn't bad at all.

Halfway through the pizza the waitress asked if I wanted another beer.  Silly question.  I asked if they had anything special on tap and to my great surprise she said they had Avery Dugana!!  I had heard alot about this beer but have never had it.  The stats are : OG: 1.076  ABV: 8.5%  IBUs: 93.  It's technically a double IPA, and though they say it's a brutally bitter, dank, piney and resinous ale, I found it to be quite balanced and had a bit of sweetness to it.  Hard for me to tell if that sweetness comes from the malt or maybe the huge amounts of hop oils trick your tongue into thinking sweet.  In either case, I really enjoyed this Dugana.

I'm a lightweight, those two beers were enough for me for the night.  Great way to end the week.  Pizza and IPA's with my two girls!!