Copr IPA
Crowded Castle Brewing Company

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Crowded Castle Brewing Co. "CÔPR IPA"
16 fl. oz can without production codes or freshness dating
$4.75 at the brewery

Notes via stream of consciousness: This one's got an interesting name and an interesting label. It's certainly a dark copper, clocking in at about 25 SRM. The head is a creamy cap of creamy, yellowed off-white foam. Unfortunately it seems that all of the Crowded Castle beers suffer from limited head retention, but I'm guessing that that's because they've got a restrained carbonation which is a trade-off for better mouthfeel when it works for the style. Let's test that out right now... yeah, I think it works here. It's medium bodied with a little bit of a dextrinous feel, and the fine-bubbled moderate carbonation gives just a light caress to the tongue before it becomes smooth and almost creamy. That wouldn't work in let's say, a Belgian-style tripel, but it works here. What I'm missing now are hops in the aroma. I get a dark caramel and toasted maltiness and what I think are citrusy hops, but it's not particularly bright. That's OK in this case though as I feel that stylistically this is closest to a "Red IPA" (21B) according to Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines which suggest a moderate to strong hop aroma. And really, who cares about them unless you're entering your beer in a competition? On to the flavor... it's quite malty with plenty of dark caramel that's borderline similar to burnt sugar, and gently toasty. The citrusy hops come through more clearly here, and it's also got some dark fruit to it as well as a bit of earthiness, leafiness, and spiciness. A very firm bitterness stabilizes it from the midpoint and leads to a mostly dry, bitter, earthy, leafy, and spicy finish. There is a dollop of residual sweet malt there but it doesn't really come off as "sweet" because of everything swirling around it, and then that part of it fades rather quickly. Some of the caramel and toast lingers though with the earth/leaf/spice and it's actually quite nice. So did I miss anything of can I just sum this up? Ahhh, two notes on the appearance - it's somewhat hazy, and although the head fell rather quickly, it's left a little bit of nice lacing behind. There were a bunch of tiny spots at first, but now there are some small sheets, so that's good. In the end, like all of the other Crowded Castle beers I've tasted it's a tasty and enjoyable beer but it somehow just lacks that something special. It seems like their going for more malty beers and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Or, perhaps they've got a mash tun that makes it difficult to dial in the exact mash temp that you want; I've dealt with that before. So I like this beer and I'll recommend it, and I'm hoping by the time I get around to trying it again it'll be a little more polished and bright.
Review #6,794

 

Pours a muddy light brown color with very little head. This beer was nicely balanced with relatively equal malt and hop presence. However, it was a touch bland by contemporary IPA standards.