Drakes Hop Salad

Formerly brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Leandro, California USA

Tapped at Hollingshead Deli in Orange Calif. Good gracious this was delightful! I had not had a beer in a week, so my palate was ready for something delicious and this was fantastic. Quite aromatic in aroma and the flavor was thick, hoppy with some apricot tones. I wanted 6 more of these but I live 40 miles away. I had a Stone Ruination afterwards, which is a huge Staple type beer for me (in other words I love it) and the Drake was more rich full and complex. Is this available in bottles???

I adore the name of this beer. Deep amber pour, translucent, with sunburst orange hues. Off white head is creamy and slow to recede. Aroma bursts forth from the glass with notes of booming grapefruit. More miniscule notes of toasty malt, pine needles, sun ripened oranges, slight perfumy remnants of esters and a distinct saltiness round out a marvelous and captivating nose. Magnificent and forceful aroma. I would like to note that I had to make a conscious effort to stop sniffing and start drinking, the aroma is that much fun. Blasts of hops with profound bitterness and focus charge forward in the flavor. Delicious! Malt is plentiful and nicely evenly toasted. Doughy and sugary notes blend well with the profuse bitterness. Citrus is muffled by the intensity. Onion powder spice from the Summit hops works well in this recipe. As the glass warms, cinnamon and vanilla spicing glimmers through, providing thought provoking and even more unexpected complexity. Oddly, a slow soft fade-out of flavor and hop bitterness arrives before the finish, this just gets better! Now it seems balanced, for a brief moment, near the end of each sip. This is a mind-bending, brutal, barbaric IPA. Finishes very dry, lightly acidic, very oily and rich with loads of lingering bitterness and creamy rye notes(interesting). The finale is a stinging hop bite that would tear through the most torturous Thai dishes with ease. Palate is very lively and well carbonated, moderately smooth, medium-full to full bodied. This beer is awesome. I have been totally caught off guard, much to my delight.

Draft at Toronado in San Francisco, CA. Poured a clear dark orange color. Head was off white with good retention and lacing. Distinct grapefruity hop aroma accented by a whiff of toasted bread. Mild to moderate hop bitterness with pine resin, subdued grapefruit, subdued salted nut flavors.

Hand bottled courtesy of my man RD. I’ve begun to expect from Drake’s what I expect from Pizza Port- tremendous hop bombs that are over the top w/ hop aroma and flavor. With a name like "Hop Salad", I expected much and this beer delivered much. Tons of resiny, piney, garlicy, citrusy hop flavors. Another excellent IIPA from Drake’s. I love this brewery.

(03/2007. Draft). The perfect antidote for an ex-pat returned from travels in the land of beers sweet and sour, this should be on top of everyone’s "give me hops ... now!" list. Par usual for these guys, it tends towards the more amber hues for the style, with a distinct orange tone. A nose full of hops (spicy, grassy, catty, citrus ... the whole gamut from this brewer’s palette anxiously waiting to leap out and destroy your palate). A big malt backbone with cara coming through against the hop assault. Hops up front. Hops coating your tongue like an oil slick. Hops all the way down your gullet. Mmmmmm, tasty. Never over-the-top, we’re looking for this brewery to come up with something a bit more bitter next time ... after all, it was almost balanced in the end. What’s that all about???

Good yellowish head over clear red-ruby beer with an orange shine. Chocolate, cat’s pee (valerian), hops, cake. Rich cakey taste with lots of malts - oh, and some hops, BTW. A bit of liquorice (not sweet) and quite liqueurish. Quite thick, oily texture, super slick. Slight burning MF. Heavy duty hops. Balance is, again, quite allright. Nice.

tap at Barclays.Had it twice now, very different. Pours with a nice brown to copper color. Very strong aromas of herbs and citrus. Aroams were complex. Some people mentioned garlic, I think that is right on. In additon of course floral as well as bitter hops, a lasting bitter finish. There must indeed be a variety of hops in there, very interesting.

NorCal tasting Feb 07 - Another beer in the great line-up of Drakes beers. This one, while tasty, had a few things I didn’t care for. A nice citrusy/piney nose that oozes hop aroma. Appearance was burnt orange in color. Mouthfeel was creamy and silk. Flavor was a bit oniony/garlicky for my taste, but that’s probably the Summit hops rearing it’s head. Still, it’s a fantastic DIPA if you can find it.