So, I'm pretty sure I did this one on the "old board", but if so, it's lost to the dustbin of history, so I'm doing it again.


Drakes's IPA, to me, is the ideal beer. It's a beer's beer. Beer like this is why I drink and brew beer.

The color is a dark amber, and the beer is cloudy. (Yes, this is a bottle conditioned beer, and no, the yeast isn't caked on the bottom like Sierra Nevada, so be careful with that pour and leave a half inch in the bottle if you don't want to drink yeast. I do, but that's me.) The head is dense and creamy, and it has some serious staying power. A pretty good quarter inch of head lasts to the bottom of the glass, and leaves behind an impressive lace.

The aroma is very hoppy, there's definately a bunch of "C" hops in this, although I'll wager that Chinook is not among them. The floral character of the aroma hops really shines through here, and I'd tend to guess that it's probably dry hopped, but I'm not really sure. Underneath the hops is a pleasantly sweet, "toasty" malt aroma.

The body is somewhat "chewier" than a lot of IPAs on the market, lending the beer some real substance. Not a beer you want to drink a whole bunch of, but it's almost like a snack on its own.

The flavor is a bit "raw", for sure. This is not a pasteurized, filtered, over-treated mass production beer, this is pure beer goodness, what in England they call a "real ale". There is, in fact, a certain aspect that I can't quite define that says "homebrew" to me, and I mean that in a good way. Hoppiness is the predominant flavor here, and if you don't like "C" hops you won't like this beer. (Think Sierra Nevada for an example of the "C" hop flavor profile) If you DO like the hops, you'll like this beer. The hop flavor is intense, but not overpowering. Citrusy as all hell, and the floral character of the aroma really carries through in the flavor of the beer. A pleasant, lingering but not overbearing bitterness hangs around after the swallow, balancing out the intense hops nicely. Gives it that lip-smacking, "I want some more of THAT" character. As in the aroma, a good solid malty backbone holds it altogether, adding just the right touch of sweetness to the citrusy/floral flavors of whatever hops they've used in this beer. And that's a malty flavor, not a sugary sweetness, not a "biscuity" flavor.

All in all, like I said this is one of my favorite beers. If you like the American style IPAs, put this on your must-try list. If you don't like American pales, avoid it like the plague. Or, go ahead and try it, it might just change your mind.

Probably should add that when I say "ideal beer", I mean commercially available. Nothing I've ever had quite compares to a fresh, cask-conditioned ale, brewed in the basement by the man himself, at McNeils's brewpub in Brattleboro, VT. But this is on a comparable level, which is something I don't say lightly.

for the ultimate ipa, try stone's 'ruination'.

it's the top of the heap.

Is that the crazy, 120 minute hop and alcohol monster I've been hearing about?

http://www.stonebrew.com/tasting/ruination/press.html

it's fucking awesome.

here's the label.

http://www.stonebrew.com/tasting/ruination/back.html

No, I guess that's something else...

Damn, 100 IBUs? I gotta get me some of that...

they brew it in california, so you could probably find it easy enough.

I'm drinking it right now. It is, indeed, very very good. Honestly, though, I expected more bitterness.

So, to this point, I still gotta say that, as far as bitter hop-bombs go, Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial IPA is the ultimate. 9.2%, and I don't know how many IBUs but it's a helluva lot. Basically, the only way you could get more hops would be to chow down on a big ol' handful of 'em. Which is definitely not recommended.

Although I will say, the Ruination is the better overall beer. It just doesn't stack up on hop madness.

After drinking this whole bottle, I will say that this is a very excellent beer, however I personally still prefer the Drakes. You don't like the "citrus" flavor as I recall, so you might not dig it as much, but for me it's just about perfect.

One thing, this is not a bottle conditioned beer, and that's something I kind of prefer in bottled craft beer.

i like the bottle-conditioning too.

i brew ipa excluslively, but this one - i don't know - i've always taken great pride in saying that i could never buy a better beer than i can brew, but this one - this one's got me whipped.

if you want TOTAL bitter madness, i have to suggest -

http://www.laalternative.com/hotknives/?p=111

- the stone brewery 10-year ipa.

it's so bitter that i didn't even really like it.

i guess we all have our own tastes - but at least you know what i'm talking about with the 'ruination'. i've never tasted a more perfect (for me) brew.

yeah - the grapefruit; orange; lemon flavor has no place in ipa for me. i want the straight dope - malt, hops, yeast.