Bass Akwards
Drake's Brewing Co.

Alright, let's take a journey back to August 7, 2010 at the 13th annual ipa festival. Stripper attended.

A full on amber colored pour enters the glass. Has that amber/light orange like glow to it. 1/3" white head. The aroma drops a heavy dose of both Centennial and Cascade. Bring on the pine and grapefruit rind notes. I wouldn't say its fresh cut grass, but it was cut this week.

The taste is a crystal malt laden unsweetened dust and caramel underpinning to an almost over the top amount of bittering hops. Bygone era as they say. The ibus felt close to 100 on this. Old lady hated it. I thought it was serviceable, but most of the flavors were malt and bittering hop based. Was one of those maltibois that didn't really absorb or cover bitterness or alcohol. Back when they were trying to go for a more "balanced" ipa but just still ended up with a malty, still very bitterly hopped beer. I think I understand why they abandoned ship on this one, and started with the aroma series of vastly better ipas.

 

 

Love the name….beer is ok too. Pours a clear golden color with an off-white foamy head with nice lacing. A lot of malt in the nose. Light citrus fruit character in the background. The taste has a blast of mango and grapefruit with a strong bitter/tangy aftertaste. I was surprised at how strong tasting this beer was and it was a little too bitter for multiple consumptions. A nice beer though and worth bottling…which knowing Drake’s they just might do that. And that’s a good thing.

light color, classic ipa character, good balance, pear, pineapple, medium-length finish, nice bitter hop character. nose was grassy and piney. clear gold color with a medium white head. flavor was light with a good hop/malt balance. had the beer at the ipa festival at the bistro in hayward.

Pint glass at EJ Phair in Concord. 6.9% listed ABV.

Served with a small but well retained head. Nice lacing shows as I drink it down. Clean amber body.

Very pleasant strong piney aroma with nice some citrus buried in there. Some pungent leafy character also make a showing. I swear it seems Drake's doesn't make a beer that doesn't smell fantastic.

Continues with the pine on the palate with a touch of malt sweetness. Although there's a very hefty share of dry yet clean bitterness on the finish this manages to stay extremely clean and easy drinking. Pretty highly carbonated on tap.

Another solid Drake's brew, better than their regular IPA. I've yet to be truly disappointed with anything this local brewer does.

On tap at City Beer Store. Very nice IPA with a big pine-citrus hop character. This beer poured a medium amber with a white head, pretty standard for an IPA. The aroma was quite assertive with a big hop punch. It smelled of candied grapefruit rind, flowers, freshly cut grass and pine sap. The flavor was a bit more middle of the road, but there certainly wasn't anything wrong with it. The American IPA field is just awfully crowded and Bass Ackwards was just a bit standard for a juicy West Coast IPA. It was dangerously drinkable. My glass emptied very quickly. I think that they listed the abv at 6.9%.

On tap at the Trappist in Oakland. Didnt realize this wasn't in the system otherwise I would have gotten some more info about the beer.

The beer pours a light brown/dark yellow color with good head retention and lacing. The foam is the typical IPA white head.

The aroma is a bit distracting because it smells strongly of weed. Its got some pineyness too in addition to the slight hint of booze.

The flavor is also heavy on the weed but its balanced by the maltiness and the nice stickiness from all the hop resin. Its also high in bitterness. Most of other hop flavors are piney in nature. No fruit of any sort to speak of. I may need to brush up on hop varieties but this could very well be loaded with hops like Columbus or Warrior, or maybe even Ahtanum. But I could be way off base here too, its a moot point. A touch of booze to finish it off too.

Heavy body and very sticky and amply carbonated. Enjoyable for sure, unless you hate the smell of marijuana. The balance on this beer is somewhere between a heavy (and relatively malty) american IPA and a DIPA.