Dragon Series: Onyx Dragon
Alley Kat Brewing Company

Hazy with a dark straw color to it and some amber/ honey brown highlights to it, poured with a half finger of off-white slightly rocky, creamy looking head that has a decent amount of retention to it and leaves long clingy legs of lacing down the side of the glass.

Light aroma to it, mostly I'm getting navel orange peel and maybe a ghostly hint of spices.

Orange flavor forward with nice zesty orange peel and a good amount of orange juice to it, as well as a faint hint of pineapple.

Lighter bodied then I expected, at least for a dragon series which tends to lean towards the heavy side, still it manages to be medium bodied with an average amount of carbonation to it with a lightly sweet biscuty malt that leaves a slightly sweet, sticky mouthfeel to it.

Becomes moderately bitter on the finish with a pithy, herbal flavor with hints of tannin rich black tea and angostura bitters that lingers on the palate along with some of the orange zest.

 

 

So first - not a big fan of the brewery putting their commercial description as a rating and giving themselves a very tidy 4.67/5 (apparently they feel they have made the best DIPA ever) - not really cool Alley Kat.

That said - pours a very nice clear orange/amber colour with 2 fingers of off white puffy head. Aroma is a bit muted - a bit malty, some pineapple note. Taste starts with a sweet caramel malt, followed by some tropical fruit, pineapple, bit of citrus peel, with some spicy bitterness of pine at the finish which hangs on with dry, crisp mouthfeel. Generally a very good DIPA, but no this is not Pliny the Elder.

650ml bottle - the latest in their single-hopped DIPA series, this time going with the Bravo varietal.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some random streaky and blotchy lace around the glass as it slowly subsides.

It smells of grainy and crackery caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee sweetness, a hint of peppery yeast, mild indistinct tropical fruit notes, some hard water flintiness, and plain leafy, weedy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, a muddled domestic stone and citrus fruitiness, earthy spice, some damp minerality, and more floral, herbal, and piney verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-coddling frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, which just a touch of hop acridity perhaps taking things down a notch or so here. It finishes off-dry, the house malt still big and strong, while the lingering floral hops exhibit a similar mettle.

Overall - once again, Alley Kat does well to show off the attributes of a single, particular hop. Crisp, easy to put back (no sign of the 15-proof wowee sauce quotient, BTB), and quite enjoyable. I feel like I've said the exact same thing before. Oh well.

Alley Kat’s latest Dragon Series, single hopped with Bravo. If you’ve enjoyed their previous offerings in this series, you won’t be disappointed. This is a brilliant, dry, traditional IPA. The malt backbone is enhanced with a nice resiny hop flavor. Dare I say “Bravo”?