Drakes Hopocalypse Triple IPA (Black Label)

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Had a month or two on it so the smell was bitter and malty, but the hops were still there in the taste. This thing must be a hop bomb when fresh. Still good with a tad bit of age. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Was lucky to not have to trade a Deviation for this because apparently that was the going rate for this rare beer. I heard the Stone 030303 wasn’t drinking great, and although it is being sold for $75 I will only trade you one rare fresh beer for it. Hey I have like 150 trades on this internet, this is not my first Rodeo. Rare Cantiloons, W.H.A.L.E.S. and D.O.N.G.S... or Drakes triple IPA that my buddy went to the release and got 6 of for some reason - trying to take advantage of someone and drive up the price is a solid thing to do... on BEER ADVOCATE. Just a heads up, I have been into craft beer since I was 16, I am now 30. I am the # 1 rater in Washington somewhat by accident, but I digress... fuck this bullshit, regardless, I am now drinking this beer that I was almost conned out of something extra "RARE" to try. Fuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkk that. I just wanted to try this beer and share it with likeminded individuals. Fuckers. Rate beer now: Boom. Balanced nose, citrus hops, pale malts, dough, resinous citrus hops, some floral notes. Not overly aromatic, but smooth and well balanced. Smells similar to the last Hopocalypse, and the other Drake IIPA I have had. House yeast or some shit. Honey, dough. Over ripe pineapple for sure, dough, honey, light citrus. Residual sugars take over this one and makes the hops almost candied. Would love this to be a little dryer. Really glad I didn’t get conned out of some RARE beer for this because while it is well done. It is not worth it. Fuck your Beer Advocate bullshit.

Bomber. Thanks Alex for sharing. Clear bright orangish golden with white head and cascading lacing. Present yet subdude piney weed hop aroma with some tropical fruit sweetnes, bit of honey, doughy malt with hints of sweet oatmeal and over ripe pineapple. The 12.5% is hidden for the most part Decent, under attenuated, leaning to overly sweet and messy.

Sampled at Hunahpu’s release. Aroma is crisp, hoppy, and smooth, all at once. Flavor was oddly sweetish, smooth, bitter. Hops are definitely around, and really nice. The sweetness caught me off guard, but was pleasant and enjoyable. Really nice triple!

Bottle many thanks to joeneugs. Pours clear amber, with a medium white head. The nose is pine, tangerine, orange, white grape, kiwi, caramel and honey - complex and balanced nose. The taste is pine, resin, orange, tangerine, red grapefruit, white grape, grass, pepper, honey, floral and lingering alcohol warmth (but not representative to 12.5%) with a long, bitter finish. Medium to full body, fine carbonation and slightly syrupy mouth-feel. Difficult to fault it really as it’s so well balanced for this percentage. Great depth of flavour and impressive level of complexity. Wow!

Bottled, thanks Craig! Lighjtly hazy pale amber, minimal head. Huge perfumy hop aroma with plenty of tropical fruits. Sweet and near full bodied with soft mouthfeel and plenty of warmth. Doughy malt and seemless perfumy tropical fruit hops. The bitterness is actually quite balanced in a finish with honey and white pepper.

On tap at Drake’s Barrel House pouring up clear deep gold with near bright white head. The aroma is sweet holy hell drool inducing goodness from big yummy bold grapefruit, tangelo, clementine and orange peel notes mixing with a faint sweet maltiness pulling this together in the background. The taste is big bold near brash and fully YUM certified with chewy rich malt sweetened grapefruit and tangelo like hop flavors that roll into robust levels of citrus hop resiny bitterness creating a pleasing yet less sessionable sensation, Wow wow. It seems the resiny hop bitterness can also be pine like in its bitterness. Damn!

Sampled at the Drake’s Barrel House on 2/18/2012. This triple IPA pours a medium to deep orange gold color from the tap. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is orange, orange peel, grapefruit, citrusy, piney, fruity and sweet. A full bodied Triple India Pale Ale. The malts are fruity and sweet, orange and orange peel. The hops are citrusy and grapefruity, very grapefruity, piney and floral, A medium to high bitterness IPA. Decent carbonation. Lots of malts at the start and lots of hops at the finish. Very well balanced. Touch of alcohol bite at the finish. Probably the best of the Triple IPAs I have tried this year. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

A - Pours a clear rich golden-orange color with a finger of frothy white head. The head fades down fairly slowly leaving behind some thick lacing on the sides of the glass. S - Aroma is full of citrus and pine hops with grapefruit and orange and sweet caramel and biscuit malts with just a touch of alcohol. T - Starts off with a big citrus and pine hop flavor with lots of grapefruit and bitterness with some sweet caramel malt in the background. Through the middle, more pine and grassy hops flavors come through with some more bitterness and some biscuit malt. The finish is a mix of sweet malts with some residual sugar sweetness, citrus hops, and just a touch of booze coming though. M - Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a sweet, bitter, and warming finish. D - Very drinkable. Really nice Triple IPA. The hops are really strong and have a great complex flavor, but the body and malt of the beer keep up nicely.

Thanks to ramnuts and arbitrader for this. Tropical aroma and flavors. This Triple IPA is not nearly as sweet as some DIPAs I have had. It is sweet<but it IS a triple IPA so I expect that. Mouthfeel is not as heavy as one would expect either. The Alcohol is apparent but again, I would expect that. Overall this is a good IIIPA as IIPAs and some DIPAs go. My overall feeling about IIIPAs is that brewers do these just to make something with tons of alcohol. The hops can’t shine very much in theses beers since the malt bill has to be huge to get that much alcohol.