CDA
pFriem Family Brewers

CDACDA
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From:
pFriem Family Brewers
 
Oregon, United States
Style:
Black IPA
Ranked #25
ABV:
7.5%
Score:
91
Ranked #7,879
Avg:
4.09 | pDev: 7.58%
Reviews:
16
Ratings:
50
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 08, 2023
Added:
Mar 19, 2013
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  7
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by NickThePyro:
Photo of NickThePyro
Rated by NickThePyro from Washington

4.21/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Mar 05, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by BigIronH from Michigan

Sep 08, 2023
Photo of Iamaskier
Reviewed by Iamaskier from Idaho

4.14/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Pours a huge, root beer float looking head. Smells of sweet pine, caramel, and a hint of fruit. Taste is fairly sweet, a bit of hoppy bitterness flutters through, and fruity. Toffee, light pine, and blackberry stand out. Hints of citrus peel and coco. Feel is silky smooth. This is fantastic. The balance is phenomenal, the berry and the hops and malt fit together so well, and the feel is great for this style.
Dec 28, 2022
 
Rated: 4.12 by ncherf from Washington

Dec 18, 2022
Photo of snaotheus
Reviewed by snaotheus from Washington

3.94/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
2022-12-04
16oz can served in a curvy Fremont glass. Can is dated 11-17-2022. Bought it at Beer Junction earlier today.

Pours black at arm's length, dark brown when inspected more closely. Fairly large head, pretty good retention, settles into a thick pillowy uneven layer with strong lacing all the way up the sides. Smell is a little bit of roast coffee, some hard to place citrus/resin aroma, something else, darkly fruity...maybe figs or dates or something, but not very clear.

Taste is strongly roasty with a strong bright citrus and floral hop profile, a little piney resin. A little bit of a burnt toffee sweetness, maybe a little bit of a nutty chocolate.

Mouthfeel is medium and dry. Overall, quite nice.
Dec 05, 2022
Photo of gefinley
Rated by gefinley from California

4.17/5  rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Bottled 11/22/21.
Mar 20, 2022
 
Rated: 3.86 by BirdsandHops from Oregon

Feb 24, 2022
Photo of TheBricenator
Reviewed by TheBricenator from Oregon

4.16/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Look: Mahogany on the pour and deep reddish-brown in the glass with a substantive head that almost looks grey and settles to a film, leaving great lacing behind
Aroma: Fir needles and light wafts of the menthol that often comes with them, mixed dark berries, some lime, dark malt notes, and toffee
Taste: Dark malt, light chocolate, and fir needles start it off and quickly build in depth while they intertwine. Soon after, toffee richness along with a spattering of blackberry, boysenberry, and black currant creep into the fold, all working together nicely. Closes with more fir and a decent bite
Mouthfeel: Full, medium-high carbonation, no detectable alcohol, and a decent and felt amount of dryness on the finish
Overall: This is tasty stuff. I’m a huge sucker for CDA/Black IPA’s and a pFriem fanboy so always enjoy this each year I see it as it’s good and well-made. I actually prefer more chocolate and roast notes in this style but they can often be overdone and clash with the hops so would rather have less-than-desired amounts that it being overdone and messy. Delicious
Feb 07, 2022
Photo of DefenCorps
Reviewed by DefenCorps from Oregon

3.87/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bottled 22 Nov.

Surprisingly light for a CDA, this is a dark amber with a dense, off-white head with excellent retention and lacing. The nose is pine rich with loads pine needles, pine sap and a little spruce, a relatively reserved roast character, instead being more dark caramel and toffee forward. The palate opens with a blend of bitter hops -pine, grapefruit pith, a little orange - and caramel, toffee, a little bread. Creamy, bitter, resiny hops, pungent and clean. The lack of roast character and grainy bitterness detract from the experience, but all in all, this is a tasty beer.
Dec 25, 2021
 
Rated: 3.77 by jason_nwx from Oregon

Dec 22, 2021
Photo of WesMantooth
Reviewed by WesMantooth from Ohio

3.95/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Thanks to lingenbrau for this one.

It’s quite a bit different looking than any other “Cascadian”/Black Ale I’ve had. More of a brownish hue and kind of muddy.

Smells great. Toffee and toasted aromas with some fruit rind and piney hops.

Pretty much the same flavor wise with some citrus. Maybe a bit of a nuttiness too. Almost like a West Coast brown ale. Some wet piney/floraly hops dominate the finish.
Jan 15, 2020
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

4.11/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Taster at brewery. Dark brown with small creamy head. Aroma is light sweet malts. taste brings in a slight gentle hoppiness, still based on the malts though. Not your typical CDA, really really tasty.
Nov 29, 2019
 
Rated: 3.83 by johnnyboy76 from Oregon

Feb 03, 2019
Photo of NickSMpls
Reviewed by NickSMpls from Washington

4.12/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Very dark, rich brown. Thick, creamy frothy head, sticky lacing in the nonic glass. Aroma is piney, like a fresh cut Christmas wreath (it's that time of year). Taste is dry, no sweetness. Definite hoppiness. We pick up notes of figs, toffee and licorice / anise. Long-ish finish. The stiff 7.5% ABV is well hidden. Some say a CDA is another name for a black IPA and this one could wear that tag with pride.
Dec 13, 2018
Photo of Lingenbrau
Reviewed by Lingenbrau from Oregon

4.09/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
CDA pours a deep stained black walnut color with amber and olive oil highlights. Clear looking, but deceptive and unwilling to expose itself entirely. A massive and wavey cream colored foam rests on top like a fresh blanket of snow over a hilly backdrop and as it descends, so does a sheet of lace.

Classic aromas of wet pine explode from the glass. Toasted grain and burnt rubber follow, even a hint of orange rind, but ultimately, this is Cascadian Dark Ale to the fullest... pine saturation overload.

Surprisingly, the flavor does not follow suit. Much more rounded flavors with the inclusion of dark fruit, like plum and blackberries, along with a brown sugar based dessert bread. The finish is pine, through and through, but not nearly as abrasive as expected.

Along with that, the overall feel is much less harsh. Quite well balanced in fact. An overall experience of sweet, toasty, and bitter all at once from start to finish. The carbonation is light and soft, so is the body.

One of the less intense CDA/Black IPAs I've had, but overall has a comforting aspect about it. Personally, if love to see a much bigger slap of evergreen and bitterness to it, but I'm not complaining. Cheers.
Dec 02, 2018
Photo of MaltsOfGlory
Reviewed by MaltsOfGlory from Oregon

3.88/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
500ml bottle

Pours about a finger of tan head into my tulip glass. Body is black, with hues of mahogany when held up to the light. Head retention is pretty good. Looks nice so far.

Huge amount of piney hops on the nose, just like it should be. Some sweet notes as well, a little creamy. Hard to put my nose on exactly what that sweet profile is bringing to the table, I want to say oak and figs are both here as well. Regardless, it's a very nice nose.

The flavor is nice, hops hit pretty hard, and carry throughout the palate. Sweetness hits for just a nano second, some mild roastyness as well. Pretty dry overall, it has a very light feel to it, and a lively carbonation. My nose is just baaaarely stuffed, didn't affect my smell too much, I only bring it up because I keep second guessing myself on the flavor, thinking that maybe I'm missing something - it's just a very light bodied, strait forward beer; hop heavy, but not a lot else going on. Definitely not creamy at all, like I thought it might be from the nose. It's pretty nice, and I'm pretty sure it's still a 4, I would just like a little more depth. It's a hair to light for me, and the sweet and roasty undertones don't hit quite hard enough. The hops are great, just more support would be nice.

As mentioned before, the mouthfeel is mostly dry, with a light body and lively feel, highly carbonated. While the hops last throughout most of the palate, they don't really linger in the aftertaste. It's ok, I would really expect a bigger body here though.

The drinkability is fine, it goes down fine for a 7.5% beer

The appearance turned out pretty nice. Somewhat spotty lacing, but it looks good. Head was decent. Good looking beer.

Overall I keep looking for more flavor here. It's just missing a tiny but of umph. Still a good beer, no question, but I've had more well rounded CDA's, or "black IPA's".
Nov 05, 2018
Photo of josephbrewha
Rated by josephbrewha from Washington

4.71/5  rDev +15.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Awesome!!
Mar 09, 2018
 
Rated: 3 by 1971bernat from Virginia

Jan 02, 2018
 
Rated: 4.16 by grittybrews from Washington

Dec 23, 2017
 
Rated: 4.07 by NWHopinator from Oregon

Dec 20, 2017
CDA from pFriem Family Brewers
Beer rating: 91 out of 100 with 50 ratings