Style tweaks are getting ridiculous. This is like two cousins having a baby. Is it a rye ale crossed with a black IPA or is it a rye IPA crossed with a black IPA? It's a pretty hoppy black IPA, regardless. Smells malty, tastes malty, feels malty. And the hops are muddy in a rich way. A little too much residue for my liking though and not terribly spicy.
I met a douche-y kind of guy at a local brewery some time ago, and we had a short exchange about black IPA/Cascadian dark ales. He insisted that all the black IPAs he had tried were plenty hoppy. It has always been a concern of mine that perhaps my taste simply wasn't sensitive enough to discern the hops from the dark malts, which would be really sad because black IPA is a pretty popular style. Of course, people must be able to discern the tastes, or otherwise it wouldn't be so popular (buh huh huh).
This is the first black IPA I've had that had actually has some hop presence. You know what? It's pretty good. Hoppy, malty, dark, and bitter of all kinds. The body is lighter than a porter even. Still not much to say though. It's all pretty powerful flavors. I hope I can find more Cascadians like this one. (I originally typed "black IPA". I guess the name is going to stick.
I brought back a couple bottles from CA (though not from Stone), finally getting around to one.
I've been to Karl Strauss a couple times now, and the beer had always been a decent experience. Most brews are not bad but nothing spectacular. I usually pass over the Karl Strauss options because I was never really wooed, but I saw this one at the store, I had to give it a try. I have a penchant for rye; whiskey, beer, bread, it's all good.
A nice black pour, with about a centimeter of dirty head, I got a nice whiff of spice. There's a bit of chocolate right on the tip of the tongue. There's no strongly dominant flavor but it starts toasty, progresses to roasty, and finishes fairly burnt, like burnt toast. There's hints of spiciness throughout, but unfortunately not as potent as I'd like. I think it gets a bit overwhelmed by the strong roasted malts. It's a bit sticky on the finish but is otherwise clean on the palate.
So I'm going to guess that this is supposed to be a Cascadian Dark with rye. I'm not feeling it. Yet again, the label indicates their strong hop character ("of a Double IPA", ha!) but fails to follow through. This is supposedly rated at 80IBU and has garnered some decent ratings on BA, but I just don't get that strong of a hop impression with this, nor many other Cascadians. I don't get it. Maybe I should try a blind tasting sometime and see if the visual cue is what's screwing with my palate. Or maybe there's just not that much hop to taste.
The last unique installment of the Longshot 6-pack. After the dismal Friar last time, I was hoping this would better. And it is. But only marginally. I suppose this is supposed to be akin to a Cascadian Dark, formerly known as Black IPA (THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE). The pour is pretty rich-looking and the head is creamy, so it almost looks like a stout. However, the mouthfeel is creamier than a regular stout. So the first few sips, I wasn't too impressed but now that I'm not distracted and actually paying attention, I'm getting hints of chocolate. It's a bit like drinking a non-viscous chocolate syrup though the sweetness and cocoa intensity are quite low. There is a nicely balanced roasted malt bitter as well as hop bitter towards the finish. The finish is also pleasantly clean, no metallic off-flavors.
Again, this is a self-proclaimed hop punch but I'm finding it to not deliver, which is not a bad thing. I think the level of hopping in this just right, considering everything else. It's restrained and mostly grassy, pine-y, leafy than tongue splitting. I really think the mouthfeel is probably the most outstanding characteristic though. It's cohesive but not terribly viscous like heavier stouts. Like heavier stouts though, it carries a good amount of roast and a somewhat heavier body. It's extremely smooth and pleasant on the palate, a constant low simmer of carbonation keeping it from sticking too much.
I am still not a huge fan of Cascadian Darks, mostly because I have yet to try one that really impresses me and pulls off what it claims to be doing, but this is a nice one. It's stout-like leaning makes it a unique alternative with cheese plates. Perhaps a bit too heavy for an apertif, but I think if the meal were simple, small, and hearty, it'd go over well. I'm thinking of it as a good well-into-fall-heading-into-winter kind of beer, after you get sick of pumpkin beers, tired of harvest ales, but not cold enough for heavy stouts.
Ommegang's winter ale. Belgian dark ale spiced with coriander, mace, grains of paradise, cardamom, and orange peel. Tastes like a traditional Belgian dark ale but with witbier spicing. The sweet orange peel really comes through in the nose. I'm told it tastes like Christmas.
It's good but rather pricey. I'm on the fence about buying more. I can't imagine myself drinking this outside of the season and there are other beers that I'd probably prefer for cheaper.
I'm debating whether my tagging scheme was rich enough. I tried to not have an explosion of redundant tags based on what certain breweries wanted to call their brews. This is Belgian-styled, but I wouldn't really call it an abbey.
Again, some leftovers. It won Beer of the Year some year. Pretty good, interesting malty taste, sweet, raisins are the dominant flavor. It is damn pricey though. I think we billed it about $10/6-pack? I might pick it up for myself in the future sometime. But not anytime soon.
With a name like Nocturnum, I shouldn't have been surprised with how dark amber this is. I don't pick up on the medicinal smell that others seemed to note until after swallowing, but the mouthfeel is thin and would be clean except for the ridiculous amount of yeast sediment in the glass which invariable ends up in my mouth. You can even see it in the picture. It's not that I'm bad at pouring beer. I just didn't want to throw out half a bottle. There was that much sediment. I do like the carbonation and the malty caramel taste, but I want to have a go at it from the tap sometime, preferably with less sediment.
Hm. So this is brewed with cocoa. As a result, it's rather bitter. I was anticipating a heavier mouthfeel, but it's an ale. Weird. All things considered, I'd rather have a Black Chocolate or a Choklat.
Another offering from Unibroue. Not bad, per se. But it feels like a flimsier version of Maredsous Double.
