Chapel Down Winery: Curious IPA (England: IPA: 5.6% ABV)
Visual: Just slightly browned gold. Inch of creamy bubbles an large amounts of carbonation.
Nose: Crisp hops and hop oils. Custard cream biscuits. Vanilla and vanilla ice cream. Quite fluffy feel.
Body: Good bitterness. Apricot. Pineapple and vanilla. Toffee. Creamy back. Hundreds and thousands. Prickly. Passion fruit. Greenery.
Finish: Light liquorice touch. Tart grapefruit. Bitter hops. Custard cream biscuits. Passion fruit.
Conclusion: I do like a good IPA, when faced with a set of unknown beers I will tend to go for an IPA, as they tend to be of good base quality, and, as mentioned in the background, they tend to give a good idea of how I will get along with the brewery. The IPA is my base go to beer.
So here we have Chapel Down Winery and Curious IPA, This initially comes in light with a quite delicate aroma, and I was started to get a tad worried as an IPA really should kick out the bitterness from the start. So I took my first sip and bam! There was the bitterness I had been hoping for.
The feel is thick and slightly creamy, bursting with passion fruit and apricot, with a slight touch of tarter fruit at the back. There is a very creamy base, all vanilla toffee and cream against the hop bitterness; It creates a rich experience backed by light greenery and hop oils.
In the IPA world there are IPAs I prefer to this one, Punk had more of a twist, Jai Alai has more complex flavor. This however is very pleasant mixing soothing cream with bitter hops for a beer I wouldn’t turn my nose up at.
As the beer goes along the tartness becomes more noticeable, an element I very much appreciate as it makes the beer more refreshing jus at the point the sweetness is getting quite heavy and the beer really needs that break.
Overall a very nice IPA. Nothing too unusual but very enjoyable and uses its thick texture very well to make it an asset to the beer. Well worth a drink.
Background: Brought up as part of a beer selection provided to the winter festivities by my sister and brother in law while I was up north. Yes, being a beer nut seems to run in the family). Many thanks! I’ve not tried anything from curious before so decided to go for their IPA – I tend to use IPA as a benchmark on how I’m going to get along with a brewery.
