Dragonmead Crown Jewels India Pale Ale

Brewed by Dragonmead Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Warren, Michigan USA

Tasted 6/1/08. 12oz bottle. Hazy with an amber hue. White ring of head. Honey and grape aromas. Crackers and cranberries. Medium bodied with an initial sweet moderate malt flavor. Middle palate holds an odd metallic taste. Bitter hoppy finish. Grapefruit and grassy hop profile. Estery undertones. Woody and berry notes. Sticky lingering finish. Par.

Draft @ Brewpub: Pretty pour, almost a ruby color. Aroma of citrus and a hint of vinegar. Tastes bready, perhaps a bit of honey, but nowhere near the hop finish I was hoping for. A bit rough on the palate.

Poured a very dark copper with a decent head which stuck around for almost the entire beer. Smelled very sweet and slightly spicey. Tasted sweet with perhaps a hint of honey. Finishes with an interesting and delicious smoothness that makes this beer very drinkable. I would definitely recommend this brew!

pretty standard ipa. it really hits all the characteristics dead on, just really doesn’t go above and beyond. pretty drinkable, decent body, nice amount of carbonation...

12oz. bottle served in a pint glass, thanks to alexgash for the trade (consumed: 2/14/08) A: Pours an extremely murky mahogany, like a stirred up river bed. Small 1-finger white head that bubbles up then disappears rather quickly. Reminds me of a glass of sweet tea. S: Pretty much the only part of the beer I was disappointed in, as there wasn’t too much of a hop profile. Almost all aromas were of the roasted malts variety, complemented by some nutty scents. T/M: Wow, this is so well-balanced right off the bat, it’s delicious! There is ample bittering from the hops, definitely more maltiness than most IPAs, as I guess clearly indicates this being from the English style family. There is a solid moderate bread flavor in the middle, before giving way to an extremely piney bitter finish. The beer itself is so creamy and has a nice oily texture to it. Very nice. D: Wonderful beer, very easy to drink, I was surprised to see that it was 7% ABV, because it sure doesn’t seem like it. Recommended!

Bottle: I thought that this was a pretty good IPA, although the flavor was a little more like a good Pale Ale. Aroma and flavor of citrus.

12 oz Bottle. A quieted hop sugar aroma, glowering with lemons and spice marinade. Nice and nuanced. Piney. A decent aroma. Pours this side of ruddied amber, with a silken draping of birch. Flavor is surprisingly boring. There’s a cracker-like malt sweetness, running amongst a nip of honey and sherry. Heat. Hops run away in fright. Where did the hops and bitterness go? This has a humulus profile of a APA or an aged Barleywine. Fresh tasting at least. Earthy. Thin and soapy. Meh.

Thanks a lot MikeTD. Hazy dark copper almost mahogany pour, big white head that stays. Aroma is sweet, toasty and citrus hops with lots of caramel. Taste is lots of sweet caramel malts, some fruits like berries and apples with more sugary sweetness. Citrus hops with a very cloying sticky sweetness in the aftertaste. Really is a malt bomb and completely overides the hops to basically make this a barley wine. Boozy taste with more barley wine aggresive maltiness. Doesn’t taste bad but where did the hops go.