Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Marshall, Michigan USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Got this one in a trade a while back and let it sit for a good time. Pours out a hazy dark amber color with a small lacing head. Aroma is of pine hops and some sweet malt. Very thick mouthfeel with a nice balance of citrus hops and some earthy malty flavors. Alcohol hits on the finish. Solid brew

Bottle thanks to Sprinkle. I have been seeking this for a while. Pours a murky amber orange with a diminishing white head. In your face aroma of sweet rich caramel, malt and fruity hops. Resinous texture. The malt flavors here are really overpowered by the grapefruit and piney hops. However, some sweet brown sugar flavors sneak through before the finish. On the bitter and slightly boozy finish, the hop juice coats mouth and throat, and warms as it goes down. To me, this is more like a barleywine than a IIPA.

Thanks to my man Styles for the huge IPA! Poured a thick, hazy medium orange with about nothing going on for head. Nose picked up heavy grapefruit with pine needle accents... plus a definite alcohol undertow. Flavor found thick candied grapefruit upfront, pine resin, raisins, and heavy caramel across the middle, and finished with more caramel, pine bitterness, and alcohol flavor and warmth. Syrupy and heavy on the palate, coating all the tastebuds quite nicely. Bitterness level was ideal. This was a deep and seductive brew that was surprisingly drinkable. Thanks, Chris!

Bottle via sprinkle. The beer pours to a transparent deep orangish amber body with visible carbonation and a very dense 1 inch off white head. The aroma is very piney with zesty oranges and caramel malt. Something lurks beneath. Perhaps a light port wine? The flavor reminds me a lot of the Wisconsin group brew that we created. Piney, woody apricots, butterscotch, caramel. I bet they used jaggery in the making of this beer. It’s got that similarity to our homebrew that was used (that and I’ve never tasted it in another beer until now). The palate is warming in the gut but not to the taste. An overrated IIPA. Tastes and smells too much like the Wisconsin IIPA group brew that used simcoe, amarillo, centennial, cascade, plus about 10 other ingredients. That was just an experiment. But, it seems that this is very similar to our goofing off.

12 oz bottle poured an opaque orange color with a thin white head. Aroma is hoppy, with notes of pine, citrus and alchohal. This has a well balanced flavor with a nice hoppy taste accompanied by some sweet caramel malt notes. This was very smooth and I was surprised to see how strong this was, very drinkable for 13.6%.

Analmost harshhop pineyness greets the nose,which mellows out to malt and alcohol and fine beautiful grain hop.Cloudy orange amber color,,wow,big citrus hop dominant tastewith backing of big sweet sticky malt and a definite alcohol presence,. Strong hop dominant Double IPA The parade of great hop brews just continues to march out of the Midwest

12 Oz. Bottle courtsey of the Nugent’s. Earthy, pine hops aroma with some higher alcohols present. Small head which leaves a very nice lace. Sweet finish with mild hop flavor some caramel malt. This beer has aged quite a bit, but oxidation notes are not very strong yet. Great stopper for the night.

From 12oz Bottle. Pours a milky, rusty honey color with a thin layer of creamy marshmellow head that quickly diminishes to a small ring of icing. Rich, thick aroma of sherried apricots and red pine sap, although it could be the crimson notes in the body talking. This smells delicious grom a reasonable distance, but the alcohol takes on a sharper, more astringent character the further I plunge my nose into the snifter glass. Coming up for air, I notice some more subtle, bready, nutmeg spiced fruitcake and some caramelized pecans. The malt profile is intriguing, but the one-dimensional piney hops are preventing me from enjoying it to its fullest potential. The body is a touch thin and has quite a bit less carbonation than I was expecting for the style. Perhaps a bit more fitting for a barley wine, but then, so is the malt profile. My initial impression is of an overly hopped barleywine. Wow, I can’t get over how nutty and spicy this beer tastes. Its almost like somebody overhopped a Belgian/Barleywine hybrid. At first, a medley of green raisins, apricots, and slivered almonds warm the tongue, backed by a firm army of hops softened by brown sugar and salted butter. Next comes a nutty parade of crushed walnuts sprinkled with fresh nutmeg. This gives way to the grand hops finale, where my only complaint lies. I wish the hops were a bit less piney and a bit more citrusy. Regardless, a very enjoyable and thought provoking brew. Thanks, Tom!

<!-- b --> 12 Oz Bottle <!-- /b --> Deep henna pour, as the sailing clouds of a passing Nor’easter on a warming May evening. Wisps of tannin drenched head rim the top and sheet the glass. A light haze and bottom fringe of gold. Enticing strong aroma of stewing fruits amongst the tendrils of glowing resin embers and toasted vegetal ends, amongst the leaves of Kaffir, lie a sultry basket of blood oranges, meyer lemons and fresh ruby red. The eyes close and a stream of pure body warm milk glides down the throat. There’s supple alcohols and dancing perfumes. What an aroma. The flavor is more astringent and surprisingly more thin bodied than the aroma lets on. A bit of a tease, the thinner slightly watered malt carries a current of tantalizing pine and citrus, backed with the rise of a fresh Cat Briar shoots on a drenched east coast morn. Finish with a light buttery coating and a heavy vegetal smack and you got a somewhat lesser form of an IIPA. The hops do make it a little bit to that warm bready yeast spice, but not quite enough. The grassy plant flavors are just a little too heavy on the back end to make this an all around winner.

UPDATED: FEB 26, 2007 12oz - 2006 - Aroma is strong earthy hops, brown sugar, and carmel. Pours muddy brown with small head and good lacing. Flavor is carmel, hops, and alcohol. Palate is tart and sticky. Very drinkable 13.6% but still a bit hot.

Same batch as above with a year of cellar on it. This tastes just like a barleywine now and not a DIPA. Strong caramel, plum and raisin fill th e nose and mouth. Hops and alcohol (13,6^!).