Azalea Coast East Coast India Pale Ale

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

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.

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.)

Copper, nice beige head. Creamy, caramelly aroma. Caramel and malt dominates at first, then a slight vegetal flavor. Finishes resiny and sticky. Sampled at 2007 Hickory Hops.

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.

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 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.

Lots of sweet in this IPA. Saw it on the shelf while visiting NC and thought I would take a chance. Not munch of an aroma, but overall not a bad IPA. Decent beer. Some of these bad reviews may have received bad bottles.

Bottle; a pretty attractive pour. Color of copper with a big off white head. Aroma was strange; oranges, bread, and caramel with a pronounced sour/tart component. Flavor; probably would never have guessed this was an IPA; probably would have guessed some form of amber ale. Not too hoppy in the finish. That being said, it didn’t really taste all that bad. A little bit of balance and some complexity. Decent beer, just not a great representation of the style.