Drakes Hop Salad

Brewed by Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Leandro, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

Bottle. Cloudy amber colour with a little white head. Lovely aroma of citrus, melon and peach. Also fantastic flavour of hopas such as melon citrus and bitter finish, very nice tasty and great.

Bottled. An unclear amber beer with a thick beige head. The aroma is sweet and very hoppy giving it notes of grass and grapefruit. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and lots of hops giving it strong notes of grapefruit.

Bottled. Orange coloured. Unclear. Dense light brown head. Pines, sweetness, herbs, flowers, spice and light caramel in the aroma. Nice. Flavour is awesome and quite balanced. Pines, flowers, herbs and spice. Loads of fruity and caramelnotes. Full bodied. Totally dry. Has a very heavy piney bitterness in the end, though its countered by a subtle sweetness making this an extraordinary experience and a worhty DIPA no. 50 in my book.

Courtesy aspidites and stoutlover72. Hazy, glowing amber/orange and 2cm of frothy, off white foam. Nose of floral resin, tangerine, melon, small hit of cannibus, sugary sweetness. Similar flavor, intense hops, lightly spicy. Resinous without being syrupy. Medium/full body, balanced carbonation. Very drinkable, dangerously so. Excellent IIPA.

(On tap - Toronado) Clear, amber golden with a small, off-white head. Sweetish, caramellish nose. Fairly full body with loads of caramel. Hoppy and very fruity finish. Excellent. 250307

Draft. Rich ruby-amber beer with a whitish head. Citrus and some tropical fruit aroma. Citrus, tropical fruit flavor with some resin, malt and pine. Good hop flavor but not overly bitter. Hides alcohol well. Lingering citrus, resin and fruit.

UPDATED: APR 25, 2007 Tapped at Hollingshead Deli in Orange Calif. Good gracious this was delightful! I had not had a beer in a week, so my palate was ready for something delicious and this was fantastic. Quite aromatic in aroma and the flavor was thick, hoppy with some apricot tones. I wanted 6 more of these but I live 40 miles away. I had a Stone Ruination afterwards, which is a huge Staple type beer for me (in other words I love it) and the Drake was more rich full and complex. Is this available in bottles???

UPDATED: APR 3, 2007 I adore the name of this beer. Deep amber pour, translucent, with sunburst orange hues. Off white head is creamy and slow to recede. Aroma bursts forth from the glass with notes of booming grapefruit. More miniscule notes of toasty malt, pine needles, sun ripened oranges, slight perfumy remnants of esters and a distinct saltiness round out a marvelous and captivating nose. Magnificent and forceful aroma. I would like to note that I had to make a conscious effort to stop sniffing and start drinking, the aroma is that much fun. Blasts of hops with profound bitterness and focus charge forward in the flavor. Delicious! Malt is plentiful and nicely evenly toasted. Doughy and sugary notes blend well with the profuse bitterness. Citrus is muffled by the intensity. Onion powder spice from the Summit hops works well in this recipe. As the glass warms, cinnamon and vanilla spicing glimmers through, providing thought provoking and even more unexpected complexity. Oddly, a slow soft fade-out of flavor and hop bitterness arrives before the finish, this just gets better! Now it seems balanced, for a brief moment, near the end of each sip. This is a mind-bending, brutal, barbaric IPA. Finishes very dry, lightly acidic, very oily and rich with loads of lingering bitterness and creamy rye notes(interesting). The finale is a stinging hop bite that would tear through the most torturous Thai dishes with ease. Palate is very lively and well carbonated, moderately smooth, medium-full to full bodied. This beer is awesome. I have been totally caught off guard, much to my delight.