Periscope creep

Oh they are a capricious lot, the beer gods. Just after I complained about unnecessary extensions to the Sierra Nevada Torpedo brand, two new ones arrived into view. I must make the requisite sacrifice by drinking them.

But first, another inevitable extension. I swear the well of inspiration for the Little Thing series is running dry. I mean, Hoppy Little Thing? What's next? Fizzy Little Thing? Liquid Little Thing? Beery Little Thing? Hoppy is 5% ABV and a pale sort of yellow haze. It doesn't smell especially hoppy, just a vaguely zesty lime effect. The carbonation is faint, and that helps accentuate the New England softness. The flavour is hoppy, I guess, but it's quite plain: similar lime to the aroma, some lemon candy, a brush of onion, and then a vanilla sweetness which isn't hop-related at all. I don't get the point of this. It's like a watered-down version of the 6.7% ABV original. Was anyone asking for an extremely basic hazy IPA in 2025? Sierra Nevada thought they were.

Time next to ready the Torpedoes, and first up is Phantom Torpedo at a spectrally diaphanous 6% ABV. They have no convincing explanation for the name, but do tell us it's brewed with Vic Secret, Azacca and Magnum. It's a sort of grey-ish orange, which is unattractive, and translucently hazy with it. The aroma is pithy and bitter, all very classically Californian. Vic Secret's aniseed waits for the flavour to appear, where it's right in the foretaste, all very herbal with less of its usual bitterness. Oily jaffa orange follows, briefly, before an understated resinous finish, coating the palate without turning aggressive. I guess it's an echo or a ghost of regular Torpedo. Did anyone ask for a Torpedo that was less Torpedo-y? While I enjoyed it, it does feel like the flavour is building up to a kick that never gets delivered. Vic Secret has such a bold and distinctive flavour, ideal for this kind of IPA, it's a shame to see it low-balled like this. Good but with lots of room for improvement, is my take.

We're out the other side with Electric Torpedo, very slightly stronger than the original, at 7.5% ABV. The brewery has opted not to tell us what the hops here are, only that it's a blend. Once again it's a hazy orange, but looking rather less grey than the previous. I get marmalade from the aroma, with lots of oily orange and lime rind. Its flavour is altogether less processed, with zinging fresh citrus for days. I guess it's the gravity which allows that, and yet there's no boozy heat nor sugary malt to get in the way of the hops. This has a lot of Torpedo's aggressive charm, but I think has a subtler side too, leaning less on the harsh resins and allowing more of the fruit to come through. It's so clean and easy to drink that a 12oz bottle didn't feel like enough, despite that significant strength. "Electric" is perhaps an overstatement, but it's very lively and stimulating, and thoroughly enjoyable. If we hadn't all got sidetracked into the haze, this could have been what IPA evolved into, and we would all be the better for it.

OK, these departures into alternative-universe Torpedoes I do understand. If the brand-extension conceit is what it takes to put more tasty west-coast IPAs on the market, then I'm all in favour. Consider the series to be an answer to the prayers of all those rheumy-eyed old hopheads, hankering after one last hit of pine in a world of vanilla and garlic sludge. Who could deny them?