Little DIPA
Thunder Canyon Brewery

Sampled on tap at 1702, Tucson, June 2009
This beer arrives from the tap with a wispy, perhaps 1/8-finger thick covering of pale foam. The beer is quite dark, a concentrated brown, approaching black color but it does have some dark amber hues around the edges. The aroma is nice and hoppy up front with a solid blast of citrus and a backdrop of pine notes. The dark malt quickly comes in to play though a seemingly drowns out the hop character after a bit. This definitely smells of roasted grain, a touch of coffee and has lots of toasted malt notes.

The flavor sees more balance up front between the hop and dark malt notes, though this is definitely amply hoppy. Roasted, Porter-like dark malt notes add a sharpness to this beer that at times evokes thoughts of dark, but smoothly roasted coffee, thee is a fair amount of toasted malt character here as well. The finish has a solid hop bitterness to it that is boosted just a touch by bitter burnt grain notes. The hops contribute to the flavor with a solid citrus component, as well as a pine-hop character, but I must admit these are muted / foiled by the roast malt notes that are found here. This has a touch of body to it, nothing heavy, but it has a certain viscous quality to it as it rolls across the tongue; it is quite quaffable though & it would be quite easy to drink a few pints of this.

I am curious if this beer is a blend of Thunder Canyon's IPA and one of its dark beers, it certainly tastes like a blend of IPA and stout, but the description certainly makes me think it is actually a new recipe. Either way this is a pretty tasty brew, though I might wish for a touch more hop character. I'll certainly be happy to order another.

Served in a pint glass. Color is very dark, a deep deep brown with only hints of light coming through the edges. Smell is delightfully hoppy, citrusy, piny, sticky. Taste is refreshingly crisp, bitter, sweet, malty, nutty, and sticky. Mouthfeel is good, very creamy and substantial. Drinkability is good. This reminded me a little bit of Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale... it was dark and malty but very crisp and hoppy at the same time.