Grave Robber
Lonerider Brewing Company

 

 

On tap at Tap City in north Raleigh

From notes 11/12/10

Arrived an abyss black with a thin lacing of head. Nose is roasted malt and floral and citrus hops. Already I'm intrigued. Taste is caramel and roasted malts up front with citrus and floral hops in the finish....so well balanced, these contradictory flavors all have their place and time in this beer. Medium bodied and easily drinkable. Lonerider's Brew It Forward has produced a winner!

Had this a while ago. From my notes at the time: Poured into a pint glass, formed a tan head over the cloudy dark brown brew. Head recedes with minimal sticking lacing left behind. Aroma is good, leaning more towards dark malt than the earthy hops. Taste starts with almost dark grain flavor, which tries to hand the baton in the middle to the hops, but the taste of a stout or similar dark beer is there. Mouthfeel is pretty smooth, but it and drinkability are limited. I wrote down a B on my notes so that's what I gave here across the board.

On-tap at home. Pours a nice chocolate color with great tan lacing and good retention. As someone else mentioned, this is almost a porter/stout taste with a nice malty, chocolate taste to it. The hops comes through just a little bit so if it will depend if you are a malt head or a hop head on what you think. I like both so this was no problem for me. It is really smooth and drinkable, never do you realize the alcohol level. I have mixed this with my other on-tap beer, Rocket Science IPA (Fullsteam), to create an awesome beer, Ebony & Ivory (thanks Sean for allowing me to steal that).

Had been waiting to put this on tap for a few weeks and when the time came to drink it, exactly what I had hoped it would be.

a-Poured into an 18oz pint..like the description says Black with a nice dark tan head that held for quite awhile with lacing throughout the drink.

s-smelled like hops and some toasted malt, but didn't kill you with it.

T-honestly tasted like a really good stout with a good amount of hops added to it. So delicious and not overpowering as some IPA's can be.

m-mild-medium carbonation...made it pretty easy drinking for me.

d-as far as IPA's go this is one I could drink all day, albeit not alot of them as it gets kind of heavy

All the hype around this beer is definitely for not...if you find it try it...hopefully this one will be around for awhile

Sampled on tap at the brewery during tap room hours.
A - Very dark, almost black (duh) with brown lacing that hangs around down the glass.
S - Roasty malts - like a porter, pretty much - with a hint of the hop assault that's about to be unleashed....
T - Wow; oddly enough Black IPA is a perfect description of this beer. The hops are prominent and persistent throughout the palate. Upfront, the first impression is of a porter, with the chocolate/roasted malt flavor. Then the hops come in and dominate; the dry hopping is especially prominent in this one (whiteboard at brewery says Simcoe and Amarillo hops used for dry-hopping). The hop flavor in this beer is AMAZING-seriously like having a glass of fresh hops. Will attribute this (at least partially) to the freshness of the beer, having been at the brewery to sample it, but also a result of aggressive dry-hopping. A must for hop-lovers.
M - This is a thick, velvety beer and the lingering hop taste does have a tongue-drying effect.
D - Only had one of these, and I'm not sure I could do too many of them, as it is a substantial beer. Didn't taste the 7.6% ABV at all, which might be a bit dangerous, too.
Overall, a fantastic, unique beer and a very welcome addition to the thriving Raleigh-Durham beer scene.

On - tap at Flying Saucer served in a standard pint glass a deep opaque black with a thin diminishing light tan head that leaves decent lacing on the glass. The aroma is brown malts in front of mild citrus hops. The taste is a very nice balance of dark malts, burnt caramel, cocoa and crisp bitter citrus hops. The beer is on the light side of medium with decent carbonation. This is a very enjoyable Black IPA, one I will certainly have again.