Name: Dragon Tears
Brewer: The Marc’s & Tony Brewing Co. (Philippines)
Style: Specialty Fruit Beer (Base Style: Fruit and Spice Beer)
ABV: ~7%
Review Year: 2020
Tony Sindayen of The Marc’s & Tony Brewing Co., unleashed the latest batch of Dragon Tears, his signature “Milkshake IPA” brewed with Philippine dragon fruits and vanilla.
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as a Specialty Fruit Beer (29C) with Fruit and Spice Beer (29B) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website.
Recommended Reading: WTF is a Milkshake IPA? (Vinepair, 2018)
TASTING NOTES
Dragon Tears pours a very murky reddish color with a pink hue and a thin white head. The nose opens up with fragrant aromas of lemon peel, dragon fruit, vanilla, and passion fruit. This “Milkshake IPA” has a moderate to a moderately-high level of carbonation but with a light-medium body and a fruit juice-like mouthfeel.
The dragon fruit flavor dominates and is accentuated further by some ripe apples and unsweetened strawberries. Faint tartness akin to cherries are also present while the sweetness from the lactose is moderately low, enough to support– and not overpower– the fruit and fruit-like flavors. The aftertaste lingers, returning the familiar dragon fruit, lactose sweetness, and some strawberry-like impressions.
THE VERDICT
While this is not the first Dragon Tears we have tried from Tony, this batch is noticeably more balanced than the previous batches. In particular, this outturn has less of the overpowering lactose sweetness, allowing for the dragon fruit and vanilla characteristics to shine. The appearance of this batch has a more appealing hue relative to the previous batches which looked slightly darker.
We think this is the best batch of Tony’s signature dragon fruit “milkshake” beer so far. However, the future versions can have more pronounced hop-presence to complement or support the dragon fruit and vanilla flavors.
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