Azalea Coast East Coast India Pale Ale

Brewed by Azalea Coast Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Wilmington, North Carolina USA

22oz bottle. Golden color. Stale aged aroma. Flavor is blah. Big bitterness in the finish. That’s all this bottle had.

Bomber. Pours a copper hue with a fairly see-through body. Perhaps the slightest of haze is visible. A decent white head forms and lingers for an extended period of time. The aroma has hints of sourdough, caramel, hot cinnamon candy, and peppers. This isn’t nearly as aromatic as I’d like an IPA. The mouthfeel is lighter, but not watery. All of the flavors meld together awkwardly in a combination that certainly resembles an india pale, though rough. The hops add an acceptable level of bitterness that mostly is noted in an aftersting, but never really shine through. The malt flavor has a very generic personality touted especially in an almost corny/apple-like sweet note. This is not necessarily abysmal as a beer, but does not do well to quell my craving for an IPA.

Appearance: Pours a clear, coppery body with a medium-sized, white head. Smell: Mild aroma, but what is there is a tart-smelling note of shamed fruits. Oh dear. Taste: Blast! This funky, tart fruitiness obscures any proper tastes of malts of hops. This, friends, is a disaster. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: This is the second bottle from Azalea Coast that seemed conspiciously tainted. They’re becoming the Siletz of the East Coast!

If you were rating this to style it would be easy to blast it. But I will just rate it based on my overall impression...A dark orange appearance with a moderate head. The aroma is sourheads, lemons, and grapefruit. This is quite sour, very liittle bitterness, in this one. I taste some funky notes with lemons and grapefruit. This reminds me of a sour ale. It caught me off guard but oh well I like it regardless.

Pours a clear bright copper bronze with a well-lacing frothy white head. Aroma of semi-sweet toasty pale malts and some funky cheesy brett. Body starts lightly sweet and fully carbonated with a mild sweetness and some earthy bittering hoppiness before a drier semi-sweet pale malty finish. Finishes, airy, watery and drier. Definitely has some strange funk to it, but it’s still fairly-well balanced and complex.

Poured into snifter glass. Head died quickly. Colored the same as many lagers. Light for an IPA I would think. Sweet flavor. Carbonation stays, light fizz. Not overly hoppy. Sour aftertaste. Not a bad beer, but certainly not my favorite IPA.

Pours a clear copper color with a white head. Aroma is malty, sugary, caramel, fruit, and just a hint of citrus hops. Flavor is malty, caramel, fruit, and a citrus finish.

Not a bad beer, but could have been better. I love to have crazy hops in an IPA, but this one was lacking them. Thanks CollinT for the rate!