Dominion Winter Brew 2007 (IPA)

Formerly brewed at Old Dominion Brewing Company (Coastal Brewing Co.)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Dover, Delaware USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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12oz bottle. Red-amber color. Aroma is sweet and herbal. Crisp, with a spicy hop balance. Rich malty sweetness, some nice earthy caramel tones. Definite red characteristics coming through as well as a solid hop backbone. Pretty good beer, and I’ll bet my rating would improve had I reviewed this beer brewery fresh.

Poured from 12 oz. bottle. Cloudy dirty copper color with peachy highlights. Thin, wispy head. Aroma of peaches or raspberries, almost like that cheap Avon perfume little girls used to wear. Front palate flavor favors malt with a strong hop presence in the middle palate. Bitter aftertaste almost bordering on sour. An interesting and complex beer for me that might be nice with a summer salad that included mandarin oranges or dried cranberries, just to highlight the fruit notes without overpowering them.

draft: full body taste, smoky malty flavor, average hops, overall a very good beer!

Draft - At first I thought this was a hoppy scottish style ale because I detected a moderate amount of smoked malt flavors. This worked quite well with the hop flavors and bitter finish. I really enjoyed this beer.

Bottling Date: 29-Nov-2007
Deep slightly hazy amber/brown coloured body with a dense thick tan head that stays atop for quite a while. Aroma of fresh hops with more english hops than american. Some apricots in the nose, caramel and a bit of nuts tucked in too. Medium-bodied; Strong assertive bitter hop taste up front fading to an also strong nutty malt flavour soon afterward - very strong, yet complex. Aftertaste shows more of the hop bitterness than anything else, but some of the dryness of the malt comes, along with some pit fruit sweetness at the very end. Overall, a good decently well-rounded IPA. Tons of bittering hops, especially right at the very beginning and at the very end...but nice all around. I’d still prefer a Hop Pocket Ale to this one, but it’s great to try this Winter selection! I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Norm’s in Vienna, Virginia on 8-February-2008.

Two samples from the tap. I noticed that with both pints, the first sip or so seemed like it ended with a dry, sharp bite of a sort that I would associate more with a dark malt than with hops. That threw me a bit. But then, in both samples, the beer really opened up with some extremely nice hop flavors, accompanied in every instance with sweet malt. This is definitely more like the Hop Devil version of IPA rather than the Avery style. More malt-focused. But quite enjoyable. It is not often I’ll have two of the same beer at the bar, but here it was warranted.

Bottle courtesy of kmweaver. Pours a hazy, deep copper with lots of small rising bubbles and frothy, beige head that laces nicely. The nose is sweet and sour with notes of caramel and lightly bready malt along with light floral and herbal hops. The mouthfeel is on the lighter side of medium-bodied and fairly thin, with soft carbonation and a moderately bitter finish. Pale malt, with a caramel note, shares the stage with a sour, bitter and lightly nutty, woody and resinous hop character. This is an interesting interpretation of the style: more English than American. I generally prefer the American version, but this was an interesting and enjoyable brew. Thanks again for sending this one, Ken.

12oz bottle. 11/21/07 bottled date. Thank to Immy for this one. Pours cloudy amber in color with off white head. Aroma of citrus hops and sweet malt. Taste of grapefruit and malt with a long lasting bitter finish.

12 oz bottle, 112107 bottling date. Can’t help but notice that Jerry Bailey’s name and signature is still on the bottle. Anyway, clear amber with an off white head. Big grapefruit nose, light sweet caramel is there but seems to be an afterthought. Very bitter, dry white grapefruit flavors, rind included. Some breadiness and caramel shine through after the initial bitter assault. Medium body, webby lacing. Not a bad IPA, but more is generally expected from Dominion winter offerings.

(12oz bottle, bottled 11/10/07) Fluffy medium head that leaves nice lacing atop clear dark amber body. Aroma is medium sweet, sharp grapefruit, light peach. Taste is medium sweet, sharp grapefruit, some lemon, light bread, peach. Soft light-medium body, some acidity.