Rajah's Royal IPA
Harmon Brewing Co.

Dark gold appearance, bordering on copper. Aroma was underwhelming, difficult to believe the triple dry hop commercial tug job on the label. I mean, good, but understated compared to the braggadocio.

Grapefruit comes across. Hugely bitter. Gritty. Earthy.

 

 

 

Served in tulip. Poured a very pretty coppery-amber color, but with just a very thin cap of white head that low retention and low-moderate lacing.

The aroma was mostly sweet malts, very low hops, and what hops there were had a mostly floral aspect. On the tongue though, bright citrus hops dominated, with a bit of pine in the middle and a slight floral finish.

The body was just a touch fuller than medium, and coated the palate nicely. Drinkability was good, I enjoyed the beer to the bottom of the glass. Overall, a pretty nice brew. Maybe not an elite example of the style, but one that's certainly worth a shot if you see it.

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: orange. Small foamy head. Decent lacing.

Smell: not much there...I thought I smelled bubble gum?

Taste: ok. Grainy. Alcohol. Piny bitterness. Not overpowering. Not bad. Not great. Ok.

Mouthfeel: carbonated medium. Medium body. Kinda like Nicole Kidman. Orange and pretty nice. Medium.

Overall: this is an ok beer. Nothing that is in your face. I like more hop aroma in my IPA. Not bad. I would drink it again, but not in my top 10.

I bought a bomber of Rajah's IPA in a bottle shop. Poured in to a pint glass.

Pours a hazy copper color, with a small white head that disappears in a flash.

Smell is sweet candy-like aroma. Caramel mostly.

Taste is all about caramel malt, with a little citrus bitterness on the finish.

Mouthfeel is flat and cloying.

Overall a marginal IPA. I wouldn't have it again.

Clear copper with moderately foamy off-white head with poor retention. Big sweet citrus and a good caramel malts. Very light floral and pepper notes. Light linger and warming alcohol. Smooth moderate carbonation.

A balanced IPA with some good flavor and subdued aroma. Alcohol is a little strong. Slight medicinal twinge at the end at warmer temps although the flavor shines a bit more. Slick feel going down makes an easy drinking beer.

22 oz. bomber poured into a tulip glass.

A: The beer poured a hazy but clear orange amber color with a small head of white foam. Small strands of bubbles rose from the bottom and also clung to the sides of the glass. Lacing was very minimal.

S: This has a very sweet aroma to it with notes of tropical fruit, pine and caramel.

T: Yuck...not cool, unbalanced beer! Pineapple and big malts are present, but it's really missing the bitter balance. This kind of made me sick to my stomach.

M -Oily, sickly sweet mouth feel. Carbonation is decent... There is 'NO' balance in this beer... The BIG malt, present... but lack of hop/limited fruit/and spice combos just don't work...way off...

O - This one is NOT great...

Some of the other reviews boast on how 'cool' Harmon 'is' for going a different direction with their x2 IPA approach(more malts -vs- more hops)...Those people are fooling themselves...What is an IPA beer anyway (a hop-like beer, or a malt like beer)? I think the answer is obvious...If you want a huge malt beer, go to ESBs, or for an extreme, barley wines...Imperial IPAs are for hop-heads and 'that' should be the ingredient that kicks your butt, not the malts...I appreciate 'special' beer & and originality, but boo to this
Beer :~( Chasin' Cheers!

 

Appearance: Hazy and dark orange/amber color with minimal white head that dissipated quickly. Not much lacing.

Smell: Piney hops and sweet caramel are noticeable. Other than that, fairly muted and not much complexity.

Taste: More malty than i expected from a DIPA, with a sweetness that isn't balanced by a big hop flavor. Some piney hops are present as well as candied sugars. Disappointed by the hop character.

Mouthfeel: Medium mouthfeel, slight booze warmth, and sticky.

Overall: Too sweet and malty for my tasty without the hop flavor that I expect from this style.

Poured froma 22 oz. bomber to a standard pint glass (from notes taken on 7/29/11...thought I lost them, but now they're found):

A - Poured a hazy coppery orange, with tinges of brown at the margins of the glass. 1-finger of off-white foamy head, some retention, spotty lacing.

S - Moderate intensity of pine and sap, with more intense grapefruity citrus. Floral hints and an herby note as well, with a boozy whiff.

T - A blast of citrus hops in the candied pineapple and grapefruit arena to start. The candied sweetness continues as the other flavors fade into lightly floral and mild bitterness. Picked up a brief taste of anise as well, that turns into a peppery note. Finished candied fruit sweet, with a bit of pepper tang, and boozy warmth.

M - Medium to thick body, and slick. Moderate carbonation added bite, and finished with some alcohol heat.

D - A different DIPA than I've had before. For me, it was too sickly sweet, with not enough of the pine hop blast and accompanying bitterness I'd prefer. Interesting getting anise in the flavor though. As usual, I'm glad I tried it. But I probably won't give it another shot til I see it on tap.

22 oz. bomber poured into a straight pint glass.

A: The beer poured a hazy but clear orange amber color with a small head of white foam. Small strands of bubbles rose from the bottom and also clung to the sides of the glass. Lacing was very minimal.

S: This has a very sweet aroma to it with notes of tropical fruit, pine and caramel.

T: Maybe a little too sweet for me as there is very little bitterness to balance things. Pineapple and malt are present, but it's really missing the bitter balance. This kind of made me sick to my stomach. Purchased from my neighborhood Whole Foods about three weeks ago, but there's no date on the bottle.

M: Oily, sickly sweet mouth feel. Carbonation is decent.

O: I have fond memories of the Harmon from my time at PLU. Sadly, this does not come across in the bottle. I'm not sure what's wrong here.

Big-ass bomber purchased at Bottles in Millwood, WA, for $4.99. According to the label, this is 7.6% abv, putting it on the border between IPAs and DIPAs.

Poured a hazy, almost murky shade somewhere between orange and russet. One inch of white foam perched on top, then dropped after a couple of minutes to a foam collar. Spotty lace.

A very sweet and sappy smelling IPA. Tropical fruit and pine sap are the dominant scents.

A big, fruity, resiny IPA. Starts off with a big, pineappley tropical fruit flavor. There’s some peppery things going on in the background, along with a fairly big malty taste. Hop zap at the swallow, but it’s somewhat defanged by the malts.

This has a fairly big body for the style, with a highly oily, resiny mouthfeel.

The first Harmon bottle I’ve consumed that I’ve been able to buy locally, this sits right on the border of Imperial IPA Land, at 7.6%. If anything it tastes bigger. As a one-off, it’s pretty tasty, but I don’t think I’d want to session this. One bomber tonight is all I need of it, but I wouldn’t shy away from it in the future, either.

Standard dark copper appearance of a dipa, average head to it. For being triple dry hopped, the aroma was good, yet underwhelming. I'd guess some breweries that only have one dry hop addition have more cumulative weight in terms of dry hopping. 3 small additions I'd guess. Grapefruit is the predominant hop aroma.

Grapefruit is the predominant hop flavor as well, massively bitter beer, impressively hides the almost 10% alcohol though. Chalky mouthfeel at times. Not enough malt bill for this one, could have been smoothed out a little. Amazingly sweet at times despite it seemingly lacking enough caramel/malt subsistence to balance out the hops and bitterness.

Bottle purchased at 99 bottles. Was at a decent enough price I think that I'd recommend it to a hophead. Nothing complex or must have about it though.