Kabrew: Royal Pride IPA (South Korea: IPA: 4.5% ABV)
Visual: Reddened caramel brown body with a large creamy brown head. Slightly cloudy touch to a mostly clear body.
Nose: Creamy lime. Ovaltine. Toffee. Crushed malted milk biscuits. Very malty. Nettle like hop prickle.
Body: Prickly. Malted milk biscuits. Palma violets. Ovaltine. Moderate bitterness. Apple.
Finish: Nettles. Prickly hops. Peppery. Palma violets. Quite bitter. Charring. Apple. Earthy.
Conclusion: Lots of people these days seem to treat East Coast IPA and Hazy IPA as synonymous. As someone who misses old school east coast IPAs I feel this is not quite correct and hold this as an example of what I mean by East Coast IPA, if darker in color than most of them.
This is very malt led for an IPA, but still has a clear hop prickle against it. Definitely USA style. Definitely not wast coast. Definitely not a Hazy IPA. Yes I know it has a touch of natural haze, but we all know that is different from the fruit juice look of a Hazy IPA. Basically fits nicely the non Hazy, non NEIPA East coast style. A style that seems to be vanishing and I miss.
A pity then that is also deeply mediocre.
The malt is very ovaltine, malted milk biscuits style, fine but unexciting. The hop prickle is there, fairly solid but again not fancy. Some apple note making me think they may used citra as a hop? Maybe? Feels like a slight citra note but not much beyond that.
I like that they have a sweet malt yet bitter end contrast which I liked in some classic east coast styles, but it does feel very basic. It does the job nothing beyond. The work to rule of IPAs.
Background: Final beer brought back from South Korea. This is a simple one just grabbed from the equivalent of a 7/11 – I wanted to do at least one example of the mass available beers of South Korea outside of its popular lagers. Now I am not a fan of royalty myself, no royal pride you might say, but I did like the depiction of the Gyeongbokgung Palace on either side of the can, very pretty on the eye, which is what made me grab it from the others available. At 4.5% abv it seems a bit low for an IPA, but that is what they call it so how it is being labelled. Music wise went with Infected Rain: Time – a new band for me and one I am enjoying.
