Royal Donk Double IPA

Bottle. Better Beer Of The Month Club. Cloudy dark orange to amber color with an off-white head. Aroma has alcohol, piney hops, somewhat resinous, slightly stale, a bit of fruitiness and some caramelly and slightly honey-ish malt. Flavor of sweetish malt, a bit caramelly, light grainy notes, and a bitter finish with hops, slightly stale, and light alcoholic notes. OK, but that’s it.

17th June 2011
Very hazy amber beer, small white head. Smooth softish palate. Semi dry. Quite a lot of lactose sweetish malt in which sit moderately bitter hops. A little orange and mild piney - grassy bitterness. Finishes dry with a mild bitter linger. Not bad.

This brew pours a hazy orange color with a medium thin foamy off-white head that dissipates quickly. Short strings of lacing. Aroma of grainy malt, hops and citrus. Medium body with flavors of mildly bitter hops, citrus and sweet malt. The finish is caramel malt up front with a short hoppy aftertaste. Not really a IIPA in my opinion, slightly above average for the style though if that is what they are calling it.

Bottle @ home. As I remember, I’ve never enjoyed a beer from these guys. Hope I remember incorrectly. Hazy, reddish orange appearance with a fluffy, off white head. Thick, sappy, resiny, grapefruity hoppy aroma. Fairly thick caramel, toasty malty, bready, rich resiny, grapefruity hoppy flavor. Sticky and thick. Not horrible but not very enjoyable either.

22 oz. bottle, pours a cloudy orange amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is quite tropical fruity, with citrus hops, lots of caramel syrup, and oranges. Flavour of orange peel, grapefuit, tropical fruits, syrupy notes and finally finishing on a slightly bitter hop note. A little bit cloying in sweetness but it's alright overall. Decent.

Location: 12 oz bottle from State Line, 3/24/12

Aroma: Somewhat disappointingly faint, fruity notes, spice, light caramel, and a touch of floral hops
Appearance: It pours a mostly clear orange color with a white head and some scattered lacing
Flavor: The taste is a little stronger, some solid balance, floral and grass, light fruit, and a bitter close
Palate: The mouthfeel is decent, but something about it (to me) felt just a ting off, it finishes fairly dry
Overall Impression: I wanted to like this one more then I did. Then, I wanted to give them a high score just to kiss their ass, but I'm kind of a crappy ass kisser (just ask pretty much any boss I've ever had). Anyway, this was not a great IIPA. I didn't hate it by any means, but it wasn't the best example of the style either.

Bottle. Hazy amber with a large off-white head. Aroma of caramel, light biscuit, mild grapefruit and pine. Very sweet with some chocolate as well as toffee and peaches, modest bitterness with grapefruit and some spices. Not really the flavour profile I’d expect from an American IIPA, but that’s not a drawback as such in my book: there’s some charm in the malty body and it’s harmonious.

Hazy deep copper coloured body with an amber glow and hints of orange with a thick, rich tan head. Aroma of grapefruity hops with a lot of resin and oranges and a touch of sweetness - strong. Full-bodied; Chewy hop flavour at first with a lot of malt and carbonation but a relatively mild centre and a grapefruity and grassy hoppy flavour that shows off at the end. Aftertaste shows mostly a pungent grassy and herbal hop flavour with not too much malt and a bittering, almost tropical finish. Overall, a nice beer - more of a traditional IPA, but it’s better this way - a lot of hops and a lot of herbal and grassy bitterness, nice! I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Total Wine in Tustin, California on 03-February-2012 for US$1.99 sampled at home in Washington on the Ides of March, 15-March-2012. This bottle shows 7.75% abv with a Total Wine date on bottle of 25-January-2012.

Not a particularly good example of the style. This is much more malty than I would expect from an IPA, much less a double IPA. The roasted malt flavor predominates and there’s really not much hop flavor to compensate. Pours a fairly cloudy, darker brown with mid-sized head. Aromas and flavor are given over to a sweetish, roasted malt, with very little of the expected citrus and piney bitterness.

Oatmeal, whole orange, and daffodil nose, soapy. clear orange, thin yellow head. Much more floral om the palate. perfumey daffodil. Briefly vegetal and mossy at midpalate. Cracker finish. Somewhat resinous. Full flavored, medium body, sufficiently bitter for the style. On paper, this could make for a solid DIPA. Otoh, it doesn’t come together well and the flavors are unappealing.