Church-Key Grains of Wrath Double IPA

Draught - Volo, Dark red colour with a dusty, dried barley aroma. Small headand a lemon sherbet flavour with an almost burnt aftertaste, enjoyable

Draught. At Volo. The pint was a deep, clear amber, with a decent frothy off-white head. Plenty of resin hop in the aroma - dry, bitter, somewhat herbal, not a big malt profile, but interesting light apple and insistent grapeseed as well. The taste followed right on, definitely fruitier than I’d expect from a DiPA, and initially pretty light on the hops, (slightly toasty/nutty malt up front) but once oxygen had a bit to interact, the acidic, dry resin kicked in and stayed with my tongue for quite a while. The body was appropriate-average, with good astringency/carbonation and light acidity, and the alcohol was felt more in the linger and afterglow than up-front. While not a world-beater, a hearty round of applause for a solid effort - an easy-drinking solid imperial with its own unique character; on a personal note, I’d like an infusion of C-hop crispness (I love citrus and light spruce/pine in my DIPAs), but solid for a first effort - I will be having this again for sure.

Draught at Volo. Their new house beer. Amber pour with good head retension. Aroma was a bit lacking, but the flavour was all there. Grapefruit, pine needles and sweet malt pick up the flavour. Long bitter finish. It needs a bit of tweaking, but I’m sure it will be there soon.

Deep cloudy amber in colour, lingering beige coloured head, good lacing. The aroma is moderatly hopped, some pine and grapefruit, oranges and grains. The flavour is of hops (lots of citrus), soapy, some malt but not enough to balance this out. Bitter mouthfeel, medium body, moderate carbonation. Finishes lingering but a bit thin, continues bitter. Too much hops for this to be balanced but I commend Church Key for trying this little made style in Ontario.

Cask at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=1632 target=blank>Volo in Toronto, Ontario on October 20, 2007.

On Cask at Volo , Canada
Appearance :Muddy brown, tanned top with middle fizz.
Nose : Sweet brown malts , slight medicinal note , vanilla-alcohol blend , some hops found as well.
Flavour/Palate :Chocolate/brown malts with tart green hop character. Hops felt a bit mutter for double IPA. Alcohol it self was well covered. Woody, green finish with cocoa ending.

Cask at Volo Cask Days 2007. Hazy amber-orange. Aroma of hops that are citric and herbal, with a faint skunkiness that was quite nice. (Yes, I know, it sounds weird, but it’s true.) Juicy flavour that’s sweet off the top, with caramel and brown sugar, quickly followed by big hops to finish. Apparently, John wasn’t able to get the hops he really wanted to use for this, so he went with a completely different strain, but it still worked for me.

Cask at ’Volo Cask Days ’07’. Pours a murky orange-amber with a spare diminishing off-white head. Mild aroma of citrus hops and sweet malt. Flavour: Lots of hops but they’re mostly in the finish, needs more hops in the initial flavour. Big bitter finish. Medium bodied. pretty good, with some tweaking this could be very good.

Cask. Murky orange body with a creamy small head. The aroma is orangey and bready with some light sugars and grain. Quite resiny and very bitter grapefruit notes. Certainly hop forward which was quite a nice surprise at the Volo Cask Days.