Beer of the Week: Drake’s Brewing Company Aroma Coma

Typically, I like to feature beers that you can go out and buy for yourself, theoretically regardless of your location. This week I’m doing something different that will only be available to people around the Bay Area that know where to find beer. This beer took 3rd place at the Bistro IPA Festival 2 weeks ago and was the highest placing beer from our lovely Bay Area. For that reason, this week’s Beer of the Week is Drake’s Aroma Coma. 

When a brewery presents a special IPA for a festival, people usually assume new recipes, special malts, new hops, mad scientists working on a way to scientifically balance the two flavor…maybe not the last one, but something different is generally expected. Sorry to let you down here folks, that’s not the case with Aroma Coma. If anything, the trick behind Aroma Coma is simply “Oops.”

Aroma Coma started the day as simply Drake’s IPA. Drake’s IPA is a fine beer on its own, if not a bit conceited (it wears it Great America Beer Festival 2002 Gold Medal around its neck at all times). On brew day, they used the same malt. They added the same hops. The same yeast was pitched. A few days later, the beer was dry-hopped with the same hops. We’re still talking a Drake’s IPA at this point. Then it happened. Oops! It got dry-hopped again. Sixteen more pounds of Chinook, CTZ and Cascade were added the day after the initial dry-hopping. As a result, Aroma Coma was born.

When I stepped to the bar and watched the beer pour, I instantly knew why this beergot its name. The tasting room at Drake’s filled with the aroma of hops. The slightly hazybody had a nice head sitting on top, but my mind was elsewhere, “Man this thing reaks of hops.” As the glass is brought to my mouth the piney aromas wash over my senses and proceed to dominate the flavor and finish. There’s a solid malt backbone to this beer with a slight sweetness that helps balances out and slightly tame the hops on the tongue.

In the end, this is a beer for hop lovers, pure and simple. The extensive dry-hopping (32 pounds of hops total) produces a beer that is huge on hops, but not on bitterness. If you’re looking for something toitch that hoppy scratch you have going, you’ll have to check fine tap houses in the Bay Area, or swing down to Drake’s and buy a keg for yourself.

There is another way to try this beer, and that will be at the Taps Grand Opening. This event will be sponsored by RateBeer Events and will feature a special tasting flight. Expect a few tasting flights to be given away here in the future, and a complete list of the tasting flight to be released shortly as well as the a finalized date.

On a different note, I want to wish the now former assistant brewer Brad safe travels and good luck in his move to Fort Collins, CO. Thanks for showing me around and sharing some stories.