Aroma Coma | Drake's Brewing Co.

4.16/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On draft at the Drakes Dealership in Oakland.

L: Pours a hazy deep copper color, with a small head. Average head retention and lacing.

S: Strong citrus nose that jumps out at you, with some pine resin in the background.

T/F: .The citrus taste wasn't as powerful as the nose, but still very nice. Nicely balanced, with a medium bitterness. Carbonation was a little on the light side, with a medium body and slightly creamy mouthfeel.

O: Overall a good citrusy IPA. Would definitely have again.

★ 501 characters

4.43/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Hits the glowing orange with a little dull copper to keep it from looking radioactive. Hits all the pine and citrus notes, abundantly. Citra and other c hops I'd guess. Sometimes the aroma varies, when its fresh, its perfect, but I've had some older bottles, and their bottle dating wipes right off, a trick I've seen bottles shops exploit.

The bittering hops are good and not overpowering, the dry hopping is top notch. Sucks that this is in a bomber only format, wish it was in 6 packs.

★ 495 characters

4.75/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

L: Pours hazy gold under a 2” cream colored clingy, lacy, rocky foam stand with gold highlights that takes 3 minutes to reduce to 1/3 of its original size. At 6 minutes it is still a very thick film. S: Some citrus, fruity, earthy, woodsy, resiny aromas. Medium to medium light biscuit malt behind medium to medium high hop aromas. No diacetyl, no DMS. T: a fruity palate with medium to medium high bitterness up front that grows to medium high by the middle. Definite orange flavors. Hop forward flavors medium to medium high, bitterness medium high. Malt low to medium with some biscuit to graham cracker flavors and light sweetness. Lingering bitter fruit flavors with light biscuit and a faint caramel sweetness. F: Very luscious, creamy, mouth filling texture with soft, aove average carbonation. Medium to medium low body with very light warming. O: A bitter, big flavored beer with a wonderful texture.

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4.35/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Gold with an orange tint and a slightly off white head that leaves great lacing. Smells like pineapple and oranges with some dank pine. The taste is citrus and pine with a great hop bitterness and a pleasant caramle malt sweetness. Nice medium mouthfeel with a silky smooth creamy feel. Really nice and tasty beer.

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3.51/5  rDev -17.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

Appears very rustic, not much polish so not filtered to a very find degree. Almost wheat beer appearance. Grapefruit and fresh hay in the nose and solid finish.

★ 160 characters

4.4/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Bottle poured into a Drake's Brewing pint glass

A: Pours golden amber with a frothy off white head that settles to a firm layer and laces very well.

S: Juicy sweet, bright citrus, lemon, lime, and tangerine, tropical fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, and mango, a little pine, a kinda dank herbal note, and just enough light caramel malt.

T: Pine and grapefruit lead the way, backed with more citrus, tangerine, lemon, and lime, tropical fruit, pineapple, passion fruit, a little peppery spice, a faint kinda herbal dank note, and some light caramel malt sweetness.

M: Medium body, moderate carbonation, creamy smooth.

O: I could smell this one all day long. I would be fine with drinking it all day as well. I love special release beers that pack this much flavor and aroma, but don't immediately shoot for being imperials with high %. Awesome beer!

★ 857 characters

4.25/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours an orange gold color with a nice off white head that settles to a very thin lacing. Smell is definitely incredible: tropical fruits, pineapple, mango, orange, and some pine. Flavor is an immediate hop burst, with bitterness and resin for days. Pine almost overwhelms. Balanced by a sweet honey malt and a lot less tropical fruit than the nose, but it's present; a lot of bitter grapefruit pith which ideally would be slightly more juicy and less drying. A palate wrecker for only 6.7%. Great bitter hop forward California ipa.

★ 532 characters

3.96/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

There's an explosion of tropical, citrus flavor smells upon opening. However, the flavor is less intense with the addition of an underlying dankness and some resin added. Has a thick resiny mouthfeel and sticky lacing on the glass.

★ 231 characters

3.93/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Great floral smell on this one. Definitely expecting for the taste to match up, but it just doesn't. Flavor is a bit dull and tastes watered down. This is a good IPA but nothing to go running to the store in search of.

★ 219 characters

3.25/5  rDev -23.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

(draft, Drake's Brewery, San Leandro) pretty solid IPA (citrusy) but bitterness lingers a bit too much for me. Will give it another spin down the line.

Others:
Aroma Paloma (favorable)

★ 185 characters

3.75/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

2015 Bottle (bottled on 8/5 - so 10 days ago)

Pretty clear, light orange with thin head that dissipates kind of quickly

Smells like mild pine and citrus with a sweet undertone. Definitely not in an aroma coma.

More of a balanced IPA with plenty of malt, some bitterness and some pine/citrus coming through. Tastes kind of smokey on the back end.

Thiner body than I would expect with moderately low carbonation.

OK IPA

★ 424 characters

3.91/5  rDev -8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Looks hazy golden/orange with a lingering milky-textured, mostly white head.

Smells like tropical-dominated grainy malt and pine.

Strong tropical and pine flavors with medium hop bitterness and moderately high maltiness for an American IPA. Bitter grainy flavors stick around after sipping.

Medium body with moderately low carbonation.

This is a good IPA with a better smell.

★ 379 characters

3.94/5  rDev -7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A very nice, dankly hopped west coast IPA. If you are looking for a resinous, piney, somewhat stinky (Sweaty/BO type stink) IPA than this should work for you. Personally, I liked the cleaner and slightly more subtle Aroma Prieta hopped with New Zealand hops a little better than the northern hempisphere brother.

★ 312 characters

4.38/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A. Pale orange hue with just enough carbonation. Plenty of lacing
S. Grapefruit, orange and some dank in the background. Very inviting
T. A complex mix of citrus bitter that simply makes you want to have another gulp. Very dry backend.
M. Medium and velvety for a single IPA
O. This is truly one of the best WC IPAs out there. I look forward to this one every summer. I'd love to see this year round.

★ 400 characters

4.25/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Thank you SanFranJake for this bottle.

A - Pours a clear, bright orange gold color with generous carbonation and a bright white, soapy looking head.

S - No malt aroma at all and dominated by tropical, fruity hop dankness and tropical fruit rind.

T - Follows the nose, spicy and dank bright tropical fruit from start to finish with a dank, piney finish.

M - Medium to medium heavy body with light pricklies on the tongue.

O - Another superb hoppy California beer.

★ 468 characters

4.34/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

I cracked this bottle in my apartment and poured it into a Lost Abbey taku glass. The smell is dank with hints of pineapple and tropical fruit the look is fairly clear with a light fluffy head taste is dank and bitter with hints of mango and pineapple. The feel of the beer is fluffy and light. Overall this is a solid IPA especially for the price point of $9 for a bomber. Great offering buy drinks

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4.11/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

I went to Drake's for their Aroma Coma event. I had the double dry hopped version at the brewery but I brought home a bomber that is labeled 7/15/15.Took about two days before I cracked it open.

Look: Amber and frothy head.
Smell: Tons of tropical notes. Pineapples and mangos.
Taste: Tropical and piney.
Feel: High carbonation. Bitter at the end that lingers.
Overall: One of my favorite offerings from Drakes. It screams west coast IPA.

★ 440 characters

4.45/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Bottled on 7-15-15. Drank 7-27-15
Pours golden straw yellow. Mild orange color. Thick creamy white head
Smells put me in an aroma..coma. Pine. Lemon. Orange peel. Citrus. A little dank also.
Taste is like an orange creamsicle. So clean and well balanced. Has some resin pine to it but a lot more of the lemon and orange again.
Mouthfeel is so creamy. Crisp. Finishes with that resin again
Overall a fantastic IPA. Balanced wonderfully. Easy to drink. Great offering.

★ 473 characters

3.73/5  rDev -12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

I actually was expecting a stronger taste out of the Aroma Coma, as Drake usually packs a punch. Still good though, and ease of drinking is up there. Tasty and a bit on the stronger side.

★ 189 characters

4.75/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

This beer smells delicious and very hoppy just like hop stoopid. Very hoppy initial taste. It's kind of like hop stoopid but lighter just like sculpin. Little to no malts, just how I like it

★ 190 characters

3.73/5  rDev -12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 22 oz bottle into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass. Thank you vitese for this extra!

Pours a hazy straw body with a thick fluffy white head that reduces to leave some lacing and retention.

Smell is floral, piney, citrus rind, caramel. Not as aromatic as you'd expect from a beer called aroma coma.

Taste is light pine, citrus, some smokeyness, floral, some onion-ness, all sitting on a light caramel malt background. Medium body and carbonation.

Was expecting more from this beer, especially in the aroma category. Mediocre IPA.

★ 547 characters

4.5/5  rDev +5.9%

Outstanding appearance, aroma and flavor. This is my kind of IPA. Great hop flavor and complexity without overdoing the bitterness, oiliness or ABV. Great stuff!

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4.44/5  rDev +4.5%

Poured bottle dated 6/25/14 into Lost Abbey Teku

A-Pours a clear light copper color with a two finger white head. Great lacing.

S-Great aromas of pine, resin, citrus and some dank.

T-The taste has tropical fruit, resin, citrus and hops. There is some malt and dankness as well.

M-Mouthfeel is well balance and great carbonation.

O-Overall I was quite impressed how this beer was juicy and had the right amount of dry bite. I would get this one again.

★ 457 characters

3.7/5  rDev -12.9%

Thanks to analogchainsaw for knocking off this long-time want in a recent trade. Just saw a bottle in a San Diego museum, er, beer store, too. Wouldn’t have bought it though. Looked like the place still had every bottle of beer it had ever purchased. 22 oz. bottle split with my wife.

Pour is California orange with a tight collar of carbonation. One of the rare beers that lives up to the advertising, the nose on this is a mosh pit of sweet fruit, with more orange than anything else.

Aroma Coma mixes sweet & bitter in close to equal measure, but avoids the dreaded “balanced IPA” label. Mango (like I just had in my homemade scallops & rice), sweet orange, & citrus open. The mid-palate flowers with a sharp edged bitterness, & just the faintest edge of earth-strewn dankness. Finish is north country pine run down by a long, lingering shot of bitter hops. Half a bomber is sufficient, but it’s possible I could mop up more.

Interesting beer that, like many others, doesn’t live up to the rowdy nose. Good beer.

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4.5/5  rDev +5.9%

We thought it was delicious. Enjoyed it with some small bites of a nice sharp cheddar. Outstanding finish, not sweet. The citrus and pine notes were not overdone; and at 6.75 ABV, although too high to be a session beer, it was still considerably more quaffable over the long haul than some popular 8s. Quite good.

★ 317 characters