Drakes IPA

For a straight IPA this one kicks some serious hop booty. Thanks to fordest for sending this one. Big grapefruit and citrus aroma. Flavor is full bodied caramel malt with a bitter hop finish. Pours a beautiful golden color with a big creamy white head. Lacing testifies to this one’s body. Well balanced, well hoped beauty.

Bottle. Pours a golden body with a white head. Grapefruit, floral earthiness some citrus, a strong hop bite pine and bitter.

A deep amber cream liquid pours with a tall creamy head that rests to a rocky creamy clump. Superb lacing. Strong malty sweet aromas with a little hay and carrot cake. Full nectar with good carbonation. Almost bourbonesque in flavor with a sweet malty mucus that pushes a briny hop creep into view. IDK, this brew is not a classic example by any means. I was so looking forward to it. You people are crazy.

This is about as middle of the road as you can get for an IPA. It’s not bad. But there’s nothing exciting here either. You would think that if they put a gold medal on the bottle, the beer would be exceptional. All I can figure is that there must not have been enough competition for that medal.

So anyway, it pours a rather dark and cloudy amber color with a little bit of head. It has that distinctive orange-and-hop IPA smell. But the hops are grassy and not assertive enough for me. A little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg in the aroma as well. The flavor is weak. There’s not much else to say for it. Some orange. Some grassy hops. A bit watery. Just weak. Palate is average. Not too fizzy. Not too smooth. Seriously, if you’re going to put a gold medal on your bottle, I expect more.

A very good IPA. Nice scent of hops and tasted hoppy and a nice bitter taste.