Black IPA

Black IPA isn’t a style of beer you see too often. I saw Barbaric Yawp earlier this week and thought it would make for an interesting review. This black IPA is 6.4% ABV, double dry-hopped with Simcoe, Chinook, and Centennial hops brewed locally in Charlotte, North Carolina. This beer pours black with a two-finger slow-fading beige head. The aroma is charred, hoppy, with light fruit aromas. The taste is hoppy, charred, bitter, nutty, and has citrus flavors. This is a medium mouthfeel beer. The finish is charred with some citrus bitterness. The aftertaste is bitterness and charred notes with a light citrus note. The fruity flavors with the char make this not so great. I give Barbaric Yawp a D. I didn’t like this very much and wouldn’t recommend it. I do like black IPA, not this one. It is too bitter and charred for my liking. But I still think Hopfly Brewing Company is a good brewery. I guess you can’t win them all. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Originally posted April 3rd, 2016.

When you hear the words, Imperial and Black, you would think of a stout or porter style of beer, but there is Black IPA’s and Imperial Black IPAs. Uinta Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City brews Dubhe Imperial Black IPA, 9.2% ABV and they brew this ale with hemp seeds. The whole Uinta Brewery brews with renewable power, using wind and solar power. Dubhe pours a deep black color with a tan three finger head that slowly fades into slender lacing that doesn’t really stick around. This has an aroma of bitter earthy coffee with a subtle but faint grassy fruit scent. I didn’t really get much hemp seeds on the aroma, and that cause I have never smelled a hemp seed nor have I seen one. Taste is bitter chocolate upfront followed by a grassy roasted flavor, which is quite good. There is a little stronger earthy bitterness on the end with a little roasted note. Dubhe finishes nicely like an IPA with some roasted notes and chocolate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium. After taste lingers a bit with floral, grassy, and earthy bitterness and some roast. Overall this beer turns out great and I was expecting it to be as good as it was, not that I was expecting to it be bad. I give Dubhe Imperial Black IPA a B+. It was well balanced between the imperial black aspect and the IPA. You don’t really get a taste of the big 9.2% ABV. That is well masked by the beer and all its flavors. That’s good. If it were to taste really boozy then it’s would be so good. I recommend trying Uinta Brewing Co. Dubhe Imperial Black IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Blowing Rock Brewery Shadow Mountain Black IPA, 6.5% ABV, picked up from the local Harris Teeter grocery store is brewed Hickory North Carolina and uses Cascade, Columbus and Chinook hops in the brewing process of this winter seasonal, which pours dark, black color with brown edges and a one and a half finger beige head that slow dissipates into a quarter of foam giving off slight yet faint roasted hop notes that are like a faint earthy coffee with a slight roasted earthy coffee bitter malted flavors where the IPA bitterness comes in on the back of the tongue with a bitter finish that is very faint lay roasted with malt and a earthy roasted bitter aftertaste with high-medium mouthfeel. Shadow Mountain Black IPA is a not a bad beer the roasted noted overshadow the hops and bitter notes of the IPA, so overall I give Blowing Rock Brewery Shadow Mountain Black IPA a C+, slightly above average. Blowing Rock Brewery Shadow Mountain Black IPA could’ve had more hoppy IPA qualities to help it and could have Balanced the roasted notes, the dark malts with the IPA notes to really make it a great beer. But I found it to be slightly above average and I think that two is about where this Blowing Rock Brewery Shadow Mountain Black IPA would get to be to much flavor but I still kind of recommend trying it. Please enjoy responsibly!Cheers!