Azalea Coast East Coast India Pale Ale

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

Big bottle up here at the BP in Sylva. Poures a orange light red color. Aroma is a little bit of citrus, kinda weak. Flavor is refreshing citrus and bitter. I had to try it since it was a NC beer. Good, not anything special though.

650 ml. Slightly hazy orange-copper with a four-finger, creamy head that lasts and leaves some sticky lace. Caramel and citrus aroma. Initial caramel-citrus flavor turns to more earthy butterscotch malt and resiny hop. Good finish of resin, slight leather, cocoa, bubblegum, and spent tea leaves. Body is light-medium, slightly astringent, and a bit too fizzy.

Name: India Pale Ale
Date: 09/22/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Asheville

clear dark gold, fine white head, lots of drippy lace, sweet malt and butterscotch aroma, big sweet caramel malt and butterscotch flavor, light earthy bitterness, finishes with the dyactyl sweetness,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 4/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 7/20
Rating: 2.3/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *+/4

220z bottle. funky barnyard aroma. light color and foamy white head. slighty hazy. not enough hop flavor imo to be a true ipa, however it is a decent beer.

Pours light amber, forming medium head, somewhat white. Aroma of hops (fuggles, gosh I hope not), maybe some spicey peppers? Flavor is of sweet maltiness, wheres the pines and hops? Not even caramel. I swear I taste a bit of fuggle hops (which I detest!), overall comes across as a decent, middle of the road ale, but I’m not sure if I would consider this a true IPA, IMO.

22 oz. bottle shared with several others. This was a cloudy gold, one of the lightest colored IPA’s I can recall seeing. Medium white head with decent retention. Aroma was odd. There’s some spice, and some mildly funky aroma that I just cannot pin down. The usual pine/citrus/spice combination usually seen in IPA’s isn’t there.Medium body, some stickiness. Pale malt sweetness with some ill defined bitterness that washes out pretty fast. I agree with Bubbleflubber that this was weird, and I would agree that it doesn’t seem to fit the IPA mold. However, the beer he rated was copper-orange, and this was certainly not at all that dark. Makes me suspect it was a different batch. Maybe they’re tweaking the recipe. I’ll need to try it on draft next time I’m in Wilmington.

I guess I’m the first to rate this from the bottle. Boy, was this one weird. I don’t think this is an IPA at all. In fact, if pressed to find a style, I’d stick spot on for an Imperial Nut Brown Ale. It pours copper-orange with a HUGE head that took nearly 10 minutes to settle, leaving chunky mousse-like lace. The nose contained lots of sourdough, yeast and muddled nuts. The flavors are much the same, with lots of yeast and sourdough notes coming through, instead of the traditional grapefruit/citrus contingency. Some caramel intermingling, as well. This almost seems noble-hopped, as I’m really missing the pine, resinous or staunch bitters in the finish. The body was medium and the mouthfeel was slightly oily, not a palate cleanser. Again, unless I just got a different or bad batch, mine was nothing like any IPA I’ve ever had. Now that’s been said, my rating is what it is due to the fact that there "was" an aromatic essence, there "was" a great look to it, and it "did" have some interesting tastes coming through. It’s certainly a decent brew, but completely miscategorized... at least my bottle was. (BTW, the ABV is 7.25% by commercial description.)

on tap @HopfestNC-pours a thin white head that laces and yellow/gold color. Aroma is mild citrus hops. Taste is English mild citrus hops-pine, secondary sweet malt. OK carbonation.