Doubloon Double Pale Ale
Skull Coast Brewing Company

 

The beer pours a golden-ish (is that a word?) brown color with a white head. The aroma definitely screams Double Pale. It doesn't scream hops on the smell, but I'm not sure it supposed to. I get a lot of resiny hops, but there is maybe a bit of orange citrus mixed in. The flavor is a malt explosion. This is a big beer at 8.5%. The first hops that I get are resiny and piney, but then the fruit comes in. I get a bunch of different flavors. I get some biscuity malt and caramel flavor mixed in to keep the bitterness at a low level. Big mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Excellent. Becoming a fan of these guys. Wish I could find their beers more places. But, my friend told me they want to remain small.

Had this on tap tonight at The Pizza Peel. Needless to say, I was quite excited when I hopped on here and noticed that not a single person had reviewed this baby yet. Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect with this thing. It was listed at a cool 8.5% abv, yet the price was considerably lower than a lot of fairly common IPAs on the tap list. I figured, hey, you only live once. Maybe I'll come across a real gem here.

A nice, single-finger head, and the beer itself is the color of dark cherries mixed with a few stray rays from a Fall sunshine. Literally couldn't fit the day more perfectly.

I took a whiff, and was literally taken aback: The damn thing smelled like freshly-cut flowers! I let the gents accompanying me inhale it themselves just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. The aroma was extremely bizarre, yet I loved it.

Finally took a swig of her. Tons of carbonation. Perfectly balanced. Sticky on the palate, like a good DIPA should be. Hoppy, but didn't blow me away. Then again, I'd been pounding my tastebuds with hoppiness all night so perhaps I'd merely built up a tolerance. Gave the table some sips. They concurred. All things considered, fairly mild and drinkable.

I have to say: If you're a hophead, and you can find this beer, by all means, go for it. You won't be disappointed. I can't wait to get my hands on another. I think I'll hit the Peel on my way out of town for one last pint. Excellent, and quite a surprise!