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Serum XXIPA
DuClaw Brewing Company
- From:
- DuClaw Brewing Company
- Maryland, United States
- Style:
- Imperial IPA
- ABV:
- 8.3%
- Score:
- 81
- Avg:
- 3.57 | pDev: 12.32%
- Reviews:
- 111
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Feb 20, 2021
- Added:
- Feb 12, 2004
- Wants:
- 12
- Gots:
- 129
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Metalmonk:
Reviewed by Metalmonk from North Carolina
3.71/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
3.71/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Pours that super-creamy kind of head you want to see on a Double IPA. Hazy bronze/copper color. Par for the course, in a good way.
Relatively weak aroma, for the style. Something mildly medicinal creeps in too (gotta be the 9% ABV). And, in fact, there's more caramel sweetness than pine/citrus here, indicating that the generous malt presence noted on the label is in effect...although I wonder where the hops are. The pour indicates a fairly vibrant beer, but without bottle dating, there's no way to know whether the hops have faded due to this bottle hanging around the store shelf too long. I did pull it out of a cooler, so...on to the taste.
There's a raw, unrefined character to the taste of Serum, which is kind of nice. An enjoyable tropical and citrus fruit melange shows the hops doing their thing, while the malt is intensely caramel-ish without ever being too sweet. Spearmint emerges with some warming. A juicy, fruity character dominates, and there's also a pungent, resin-y quality to the beer, especially in the finish. 9% alcohol provides only the mildest bit of warmth.
There's a stickiness trying to happen here, but never gets there, and the body lacks the creamy roundness you want in a beer like this...probably a tad too much carbonation too. The thinner body is never watery, but ultimately it just escapes feeling lackluster.
I was in the mood for a really great double IPA, but new ones in that category are proving elusive. Maybe that bar has been set too high. In any case, I like this, and it performs well enough to satisfy. Won't be a problem to finish the bottle.
Aug 17, 2011Relatively weak aroma, for the style. Something mildly medicinal creeps in too (gotta be the 9% ABV). And, in fact, there's more caramel sweetness than pine/citrus here, indicating that the generous malt presence noted on the label is in effect...although I wonder where the hops are. The pour indicates a fairly vibrant beer, but without bottle dating, there's no way to know whether the hops have faded due to this bottle hanging around the store shelf too long. I did pull it out of a cooler, so...on to the taste.
There's a raw, unrefined character to the taste of Serum, which is kind of nice. An enjoyable tropical and citrus fruit melange shows the hops doing their thing, while the malt is intensely caramel-ish without ever being too sweet. Spearmint emerges with some warming. A juicy, fruity character dominates, and there's also a pungent, resin-y quality to the beer, especially in the finish. 9% alcohol provides only the mildest bit of warmth.
There's a stickiness trying to happen here, but never gets there, and the body lacks the creamy roundness you want in a beer like this...probably a tad too much carbonation too. The thinner body is never watery, but ultimately it just escapes feeling lackluster.
I was in the mood for a really great double IPA, but new ones in that category are proving elusive. Maybe that bar has been set too high. In any case, I like this, and it performs well enough to satisfy. Won't be a problem to finish the bottle.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont
3.25/5 rDev -9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.25/5 rDev -9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
This was poured into a tulip. The appearance was a glossy/semi-hazy burnt orange color with a slim finger’s worth white foamy head that quickly dissipated leaving some clingy messy lacing. The smell had some sweet apricot roaming over top of some light orange and lemon. Wet fresh grassy underneath rides a light caramel maltiness. The taste took all of those previously mentioned flavors to combine and leave a dry fruity aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. Carbonated nicely as a DIPA, the bitterness is there to leave an adequate harshness. Overall, I say this was a pretty good DIPA, nothing over the top, but it fits the style and I like the apricot in it.
Jun 27, 2017Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania
3.81/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.81/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
As I continue to winnow through the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody, I am finding beers that I do not even remember purchasing! In fact, I have so many DuClaw beers hanging around that I am embarking on a horizontal tasting for the next few days. This should be interesting.
From the bottle: "Give your palate a big injection of hop bitterness well balanced by malty sweetness with this smooth, medium bodied, copper colored nectar that takes India Pale Ale to the next level. Pop the top and ... get all hopped up"; "Respect_the_Fluid".
I Pop!ped the cap & decided to resume respecting the fluid with a gentle pour. I know that this one was a semi-recent purchase, but since I do not remember precisely when I bought it, I figured that gentility might be in order. Once I had decanted a fair amount of the fluid, I gave it a really vigorous in-glass swirl that raised two-plus fingers of foamy, soapy, light-tan head that hung around briefly and then fell to wisps, leaving great lacing in its wake. Color was a slightly hazy Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17). Nose had a pungent hoppiness, very vegetal and green, almost like a wet hopped AIPA. There was a good bit of pine mintiness also. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was very cool and minty, not exactly pine, more towards wintergreen or Life Savers Cryst-O-Mint. Once more, I felt like I was gargling with mouthwash, especially inhaling after the swallow. The finish was initially cool and dry, but then I got a shot of caramel malt sweetness on the extreme finish. It is, as others have noted, dangerously drinkable and my bottle noted it as 9% ABV. Phew!
Jan 09, 2017From the bottle: "Give your palate a big injection of hop bitterness well balanced by malty sweetness with this smooth, medium bodied, copper colored nectar that takes India Pale Ale to the next level. Pop the top and ... get all hopped up"; "Respect_the_Fluid".
I Pop!ped the cap & decided to resume respecting the fluid with a gentle pour. I know that this one was a semi-recent purchase, but since I do not remember precisely when I bought it, I figured that gentility might be in order. Once I had decanted a fair amount of the fluid, I gave it a really vigorous in-glass swirl that raised two-plus fingers of foamy, soapy, light-tan head that hung around briefly and then fell to wisps, leaving great lacing in its wake. Color was a slightly hazy Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17). Nose had a pungent hoppiness, very vegetal and green, almost like a wet hopped AIPA. There was a good bit of pine mintiness also. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was very cool and minty, not exactly pine, more towards wintergreen or Life Savers Cryst-O-Mint. Once more, I felt like I was gargling with mouthwash, especially inhaling after the swallow. The finish was initially cool and dry, but then I got a shot of caramel malt sweetness on the extreme finish. It is, as others have noted, dangerously drinkable and my bottle noted it as 9% ABV. Phew!
Reviewed by q33jeff from New Jersey
2.25/5 rDev -37%
look: 2.25 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25
2.25/5 rDev -37%
look: 2.25 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25
**
05/29/2015
Bottle to pilsner glass. Cloudy yellow-orange. Small head. Aroma is non-descript, touch of something a little fruity. Taste is pine, ash. Little carbonation. Not great."
**
Sep 19, 201605/29/2015
Bottle to pilsner glass. Cloudy yellow-orange. Small head. Aroma is non-descript, touch of something a little fruity. Taste is pine, ash. Little carbonation. Not great."
**
Serum XXIPA from DuClaw Brewing Company
Beer rating:
81 out of
100 with
528 ratings
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