One Offs: Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing Company

In an effort to expand my coverage of this fine industry that is craft brewing, I've decided to sample an IPA. But first, a disclaimer: IPAs are not my favorite style of beer. In fact, I would probably place it rather low on my list of favorite beer styles. Definitely not as low as rauchbier, but certainly low. There are a number of reasons why this is so. Here's all of them:

1. The extreme bitterness of most American IPAs wrecks my palate and ensures that all I will taste, no matter what I drink or eat, is hops.
2. A bad IPA has such a cloying bitterness to it that I usually can't get past the first few sips.
3. The majority of IPAs are one note and are lacking in complexity or any other flavors beyond the fact that they are hop bombs.
4. Even if I find a good one, I can usually only drink one due to the high IBUs.

Most of these reasons are matters of personal preference and I don't mean to diminish anyone's enjoyment of IPAs. I have in fact enjoyed some IPAs (especially an aged DFH 120 Minute, which I will discuss is a later post for sure). I also understand that there are people who are more able to tolerate the extreme hoppy character of IPAs. Putting my personal preference aside, I still believe that an IPA can and should have more going for it than just bitterness. Hop character should be dominant, but I think a really good IPA still has a good malt backbone and a more balanced flavor than is typically associated with your standard IPA.

Having fully disclaimed my bias towards less hoppy beer (equivocation and ass-covering being second nature to a lawyer), let's start talking about today's IPA: Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing.

Wherein I Talk About The Beer
Crooked Tree pours out a small white head that shortly dissolves to a thin film. Its dark amber in color and a bit hazy, likely the result of my dumping the trub into the glass. The piny hop aroma is balanced in the nose by a sweet maltiness. That maltiness is mostly lost in the flavor, as hop bitterness dominates. Hop flavor persists in the aftertaste beyond the other elements of the beer, but all flavor dissipates faster than expected. Crooked Tree is light in body and could probably benefit from aging, which would allow some of the hop flavor to drop out and result in a more balanced beer. If I were to compare it to another beer, I would say it is a weaker DFH 60 Minute IPA.

In the future, "hopping" will refer to the injection of hops directly into the bloodstream.

Today, American microbreweries corner the market on syringes and plastic tubing.

The Verdict

• Hop-heads can find stronger IPAs, but IPA virgins might use Crooked Tree as a stepping stone towards something more gargantuan.
  
  
• For those who know IPAs and have read the above-unscripted ramblings, you've probably noticed that my description could apply to many IPAs on the market right now. There is little to distinguish Crooked Tree from other IPAs, so don't go out of your way to find a bottle. However...
  
  
• The price tag was $2.50 a bottle at the bar. That's pretty damn good for a craft brew. If you're out partying and only have a few bucks, put down the High Life and drink a Crooked Tree IPA.