Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA

12oz bottle from RaverJames. Pours cloudy brown with virtually no head. Smells sweet and dark caramelly malty with just a hint of hop spice. Tastes like a sweet and hoppy barleywine. Lots of sweet malts with some slow building spicy hop flavors and bitterness. I guess some of the sweetness is a a syrupy, hoppy sweetness as well. Full body, good carbonation.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with yem25. Pours a clear reddish copper with a thin off-white head that lasted until mid-glass. Super strong aroma of alcohol with notes of sweet malt and leafy hops. The flavor is super sweet malt up front, to the point of being sickly sweet. As strong as this initial flavor is, it is then joined by equally strong leafy hops and jet-fuel alcohol. Very hot on the palate with an overload of alcohol vapors filling the nose with each sip. Thick, sweet, and down the drain it goes...

My Bottom Line:
This Barley Wine-ish Double IPA drops loads of honeyed, caramelized cereals onto a mountain of resinous hops for a plump, flaming and bitter sipping experience.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the hazy amber.
-Although alcohol is very apparent in the aroma, it was easier to get used to than expected in the flavor profile.
-Although the malts and their residual sugars are enormous, I cannot say I find complexity within.
-This is surprisingly drinkable for its gargantuan size.
-The hops are a tad soapy at times.
-This manages to be balanced throughout, but it’s so extreme that its equilibrium is not really important.

Bottle.

12oz Bottle $11.99 4-Pack Binny’s Plainfield Double Crooked Tree empties the bottle a dark mahogany with glowing ruby highlights when backlit. The head grew to one finger of off-white head that fell rather quickly to a solid cap and left good drink lines after each drink. This is a good looking brew with a quality head for such a high abv. The smell is along the lines of a barleywine with a sweet caramel maltiness and I nice hit of booze. The hops come through nicely in the form of pine needle and aspirin bitterness. The alcohol fumes just work to bring the hops forward although it stays a fairly balanced beer. You can tell this is a sipper from the aroma alone. Flavor closely resembles the nose. A big caramel sweetness is matched by a big piney and aspirin hoppiness, although the aspirin bitterness is a little less then the nose suggested. The hop profile does edge out the maltiness but not by much. This is certainly a well constructed beer. The mouthfeel on this beer is top notch, especially when considering the high abv. There is some heft to the body but the carbonation is enough to keep it moving before it becomes at all cloying. One of these is enough for me in a sitting because of the high abv. I do notice this beer leaving the glass far too quick. Although there’s a big sweetness the hops beat it back and the carbonation moves things along enough to keep it an easy drinker. This is a high quality, highly alcoholic brew from Dark Horse. They did a great job balancing out all the huge flavor. I’ve made a point to pick a few 4-packs up the last couple years. It’s a good beer to sit back and try to enjoy slowly. 6/5/08

@Indiana Beerfest-12oz bottle-pours a light tan ring for a head and cloudy amber color. Aroma is herbal/pine/resin hops, secondary medium malt. Taste is spicy/herbal/pine/resin hops, secondary medium malt. Syrupy mouth feel. OK/mild carbonation.