A weekend trip to Bandon, on the southern Oregon coast yielded some pleasant beer finds, moreso than I’ve found in the past. The town itself is getting a new brewery, Bandon Brewing, the pizza/pub portion of which is open already, with the brewhouse hopefully coming online in the next 4-5 weeks. That and some of the rest of the beer scene I’ll cover in an upcoming post; today though I’m highlighting a beer brewed right up Highway 101, at 7 Devils Brewing: their Groundswell IPA.

7 Devils of Coos Bay had become the dominant brewery of the southern coast, edging out Rogue up in Newport. They have beer on tap at a number of places in Bandon, as well as bottled beers at a few shops. While in town I sampled through several of their brews, and picked up a growler of their Groundswell IPA, which I believe is one of their flagships. Of this beer they say:

This amber hued IPA is big and bold with complex hop flavors of tropical fruit, pine, and herbal spice. It’s full malt body balances the subtle hop bitterness to create waves of flavor. 70 IBUs 7.4% ABV.

Appearance-wise, it wouldn’t be out of place in the amber ale category, and it has a decent clarity. It’s a bit old school in the Northwest IPA tradition—malty with a big pine nose—but also brings a nice citrusy tropical fruit hop aroma to the forefront.

It drinks easy, the piney hop flavor gives it a spicy bitterness which could easily go in the wrong direction, but they’ve restrained the hops into a nice balance with the candy-ish bread crust malts. Maybe I’m biased, having enjoyed the beer at the coast, but this is a nice coastal IPA for the Oregon climate.