Dragonmead Crown Jewels India Pale Ale

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours a dark, slightly hazy golden amber with a fairly thick and quite persistent pale tan head. Strong aroma is quite hoppy and has hints of grapefruit and, interestingly enough, honey-like sweetness. Flavor is hoppy and a little bitter, with a hint of grapefruit and just a whisper of honey. Texture is quite fizzy and tingly, leaving behind a hoppy and tingly finish.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours a very murky dark brown, with some red highlights around the edges. There's a solid one finger head, that fades slowly to a nice cap, leaving behind a thick webbing of lace. This is probably the darkest IPA I've ever seen. Smell; It's little subdued caompared to what I'm used to in an IPA, but still pleasant. Mostly it's piney hops, with a little bit of a floral and tropical fruit profile. A nice maltiness rounds out the nese nicely. Taste; up front it's pine tree and floral hops, with just a touch of citrus thrown in. There's a spiced quality that I did not pick up in the aroma, with a bit of cinnamon and something else I can't quite place, and some bicuity malts. Those tropical fruits come out in the finish, leaving a bit of a sweet finish. I didn't get any of the diacetyl flavors that other reviewers have experienced, but it is light on the hops as compared to what most people would expect from an IPA. Despite that, I thought this was a very tasty and very easy to drink English style IPA. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, and on the creamy side.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Bottle courtesy of Sammy: Poured a dark brown color ale with a medium bubbly head with minimal retention. Aroma of bitter hops with some citrus characteristic is dominating. Taste is a well balance mix between some caramel malt and some citrusy and bitter hops. There might have been some English hops in there since the bitterness was more dry then usual. I thought this was relatively well done and slightly different then most IPA out there.