Drakes Hop Salad

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

Bottled. An unclear amber beer with a thick beige head. The aroma is sweet and very hoppy giving it notes of grass and grapefruit. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and lots of hops giving it strong notes of grapefruit.

(On tap - Toronado) Clear, amber golden with a small, off-white head. Sweetish, caramellish nose. Fairly full body with loads of caramel. Hoppy and very fruity finish. Excellent. 250307

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.

Bottled. Orange coloured. Unclear. Dense light brown head. Pines, sweetness, herbs, flowers, spice and light caramel in the aroma. Nice. Flavour is awesome and quite balanced. Pines, flowers, herbs and spice. Loads of fruity and caramelnotes. Full bodied. Totally dry. Has a very heavy piney bitterness in the end, though its countered by a subtle sweetness making this an extraordinary experience and a worhty DIPA no. 50 in my book.

Tasted on tap at the 7th Annual Bistro Double IPA fest. This Imperial IPA pours a deep orange color. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is malty and caramel, touch herbal and garlic? A medium to full bodied Imperial IPA. Malts are caramel, fruity and sweet. Hops are citrusy and orange, with some herbs and garlic as well. Lots of malt flavors, the hops are there and they tend to grow and build as you drink this one. Interesting. Lots of residual bitterness in the aftertaste. Nice balance. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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.

Draft. Rich ruby-amber beer with a whitish head. Citrus and some tropical fruit aroma. Citrus, tropical fruit flavor with some resin, malt and pine. Good hop flavor but not overly bitter. Hides alcohol well. Lingering citrus, resin and fruit.

Draft at the Bistro’s 7th DIPA Fest: Nose of ivy hops (very unusual) with a little citrus background (I had never seen this odor from hops until Odeed shared a Green Flash Imp IPA); hazy copper with a small off-white head; flavor was nice healthy amount of citrus and ivy hop bitterness, with a pleasant malt balance! One of the best IIPAs at the fest. I drank ALL of this one!!!