Royale IPA
Royale Brewing Company

Bottle from Market of Choice. No clearly marked bottled on date here.

A clear golden orange with a dense, white head with good retention and lacing, this looks great. The nose is decent. Doughy, mildly biscuit like malt with a simple sugar note on which there's candied orange and a little pine present. The palate opens bitter, noticeably so with a pungent pine and candied grapefruit note. This is followed by a doughy, mildly simple syrup like malt character. There's honey and a little toffee. Drying, bitter on the finish with alcohol mildly noticeable, this beer is decent. Carbonation is soft and creamy, giving this beer a nice mouthfeel.

I had this beer on-tap in a pint glass at the Taproom at Pike Place in Seattle.

Appearance: medium golden hut with a very light haze and a finger of frothy ivory foam. A good looking beer.

Smell: fruity, slightly citrusy hops against a sweetish malt background. Not too bad!

Taste: decent hop flavor that is on the citrusy side of the spectrum. It's not especially deep or complex, but it's nice.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a good level of carbonation and creaminess for the style.

Overall: nothing new here, but a tasty and drinkable IPA.

First impression: a bit bland in the glass....not a lot of head, which dissipates down to a skim quickly, clear straw color, not much glass lacing. BUT.....this is a very good tasting beer that has a few unique flavors going on!
The hop assemblage is pretty exotic: Amarillo, Azacca, Idaho 7, Mosaic, and Meridian. And the mix produces a unique taste result.
Not citrusy or flowery....more of a woody, slightly bready taste. Thick on the tongue, and a little more dry than sticky.

I think this one should do very well....at least with any IPA fans who aren't "N.E. style hazy" zombies.
And for fans of Workhorse and Buoy IPA, you should enjoy this beer.

Edit: Jan 5./19...Brewery just announced its shutting down. I found a 6pk in a PDX grocery store.....long story short, not the same beer at all. Cloudy, yeasty, malty......this batch might just have been an inventory purge?

Wow how the times have changed. I hate to call out the other guy who has rated this, but 3.5 on appearance!? For shame. This thing glows bright gold. It's almost perfectly clear, and the perfect two finger head displays a densely knit white foam that stubbornly stays on top, and plasters the sides of the glass with lace. The only reason it's not a perfect 5 for me, is I like my classic IPAs with a splash of amber in them. Here is one not for the Haze Bros.

And continuing with that theme, this even smells mostly old school West Coast. Plenty of grapefruit and pine, but Royale threw in a new style twist with some melon. A light malt backbone only suggests some sugary white bread. It doesn't exactly burst with these aromas, I will admit.

Taking a slight turn for the worse, this tastes a bit dirty. Grapefruit and pine rolled around on forest ground, then served up on some toasted bread. There's a spicy thing going on too, making me think of classic English hop usage perhaps.

As with the flavor, this is a bit earthy, or "dirty". I do however commend Royale for a wonderfully clean and light body, with an intense bitterness that lingers on forever, and just the right amount of carbonation to carry it, just the way I like it.

Kind of an all over the place IPA. Looks and smells West Coast, tastes and feels old East Coast or even English. Honestly, I think this is a pretty good gateway to the past kind of IPA. Whatever the hell that means. Cheers.