Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA

I’m on to my second 12oz of this, and I have to say at first sip, I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the rest of the glass, but strangely enough, in the hour that I’ve been drinking it, it’s grown on me a lot. The description is spot on in saying that it’s more of a dry, crispy IPA, but with all of the hoppyness of a classic IPA. I should also mention that it’s very piney and smokey, which adds to it’s mysteriously smooth flavor. cheers!

12oz bottle. Pours a nice hazy tangerine color with a foamy white head. Yeast particles sink to the bottom, nice to see this is bottle conditioned. Aroma is a nice citric hop burst, mellow but nice (who knows how fresh this is). A strong, vanilla, munich like maltiness underneath balances the hops. A noticeable fusel-like aroma is also noticeable, and slightly distracting. Taste is bitter though smooth, estery with some fruity and grapefuit rind hop flavors. Medium bodied with a dry finish. A nice though flawed IPA.

12oz bottle. Pours a hazy golden amber with a thin white head and visible sediment. Aroma is full, with a heavy dose of apricot and peach hoppy notes, alongside a bit of earthy malt and grain. Taste is medium-bodied and crisp bordering on astringent, with an initially fruity flavor of grapefuit, apricot, and citrus building up to a long bone-dry finish with an almost mineral-like quality to it. A very solid IPA -- a rich hoppy bouquet and a very dry body, but not mouth-puckeringly so.

Pours hazy, pale gold with a half-inch head of white. Smeared lacework persists as well as a mostly covered surface. Aromatics lead off with peaches, cut grass, grapefruit, and orange-rubbed moss. Light malt with plenty of tropical fruit and earthy overtones. Almost skunky, but not skunked. Medium bodied, crisp and snappy. The pallet starts with plenty of drying, bitter grapefruit, peach skins, tangerine pulp, and spruce dew. The bitterness rolls on and the beer is bone dry. Mild alcohol notes pull through the bitter fruit pulp, and a faint malt note is present. Finishes with lingering bitterness, grapefruit pith, and a drying mineral profile. Nice above average IPA. It just needs more of the juice in the middle and aromatics.

Draft. Pours a murky orange with a full white head. Tons of lacing on the glass. Nice citrusy nose. The flavor is rich, with a pleasant hop balanced lightly by malt. Very clean finish, with a few lingering hops. Well made.