Black Malts & Body Salts
To Øl

 

 

another short review, starting to think i’m just not a fan of black ipa, there are nice flavours in this beer for sure, lot of coffee and chocolate, really boozy, full bodied, some nice floral and bitter hop flavours, but i still find it just a little jarring, the balance of the malt and the hops doesn’t appeal to me too much, although it doesn’t taste bad by any means

Pours a very deep, dark brown coloration with a large, creamy head. Smells of roasted malt, chocolate, coffe and lighter resinous, citrus hops and hints of licorice and leather. Taste is a great balance of quite roasted malt and bitter, slightly resinous, citrussy hops, with some chocolate, coffee and licorice standing out particularly, as well as lighter ash, tobacco leather, grapefruit and pine. Finishes with a very strong bitterness and some chocolate, coffee, licorice and grapefruit lingering in the aftertaste. Full mouthfeel with a rich body and medium carbonation.

I would just love to know how old this is exactly, as I cannot find any kind of date on the bottle, but I suspect that it's a bit older than it ideally should be, as the balance seems to have shifted towards the malts just a little here. Even so, there's still a considerable bitterness to this, which perhaps shouldn't be that surprising for a 120 IBU brew, while the citrus and pine notes seem to be struggling against the roasted, chocolate malts just a bit by now. Nevertheless, this still makes for an excellent, uncompromising Black IPA that's incredibly roasted and bitter, almost peaty, with burnt ash and tobacco accents and strong chocolate and coffee notes, as well as just enough citrus and pine to keep things interesting. Even though this is probably slightly past its prime, there's still a great balance left in this, which is impressive, although I would have loved to taste it really fresh, with those pine resins coming through more intensely. Fantastic body and mouthfeel to this as well and while the ABV is noticeable, it never feels too boozy. Score has been adjusted slightly upward to make up for its age, although I highly suspect that I would rate this even higher fresh.

330 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9.9%. Black colour, large and creamy tan head. Strong aroma of roasted malts, coffee and fruity and piney American hops, hints of chocolate and liquorice. Warming and smooth mouthfeel. The medium sweet flavour has the same elements as the aroma - powerful, distinctive and smooth at the same time. Roasty aftertaste with coffee and bittering hops.

 

 

 

 

 

Danish brewers strike again! It’s a beautiful beer, jet black with a generous, tall, dark tan head. I think this is the only brewing (?), so it’s been in the bottle for quite a while, which seems to have mellowed and blended the flavors. Balanced bitterness, strong coffee and dark malts, and, yes, a trace of saltiness. Long, dry finish. Expensive, but worth it.

 

Very dark mohagany brown brown, almost black. Sticky pitted tree fruit nose. Dates, raisins, dried black cherries, boozy, roasty notes. Tastes smooth amd boozy, dry body and finish overall. Juicy dense sticky fruit flavors, semi bitter burnt malt toasted notes that linger.

Poured from bottle into teku.
L: pitch black and weak foam head.
S: chocolates, coffee.
T: interesting taste.
F: medium body and carbonation.
O: great one.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours pitch black, opaque in the glass, with a thin khaki head with nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, coffee, a hint of cocoa. Flavor is dark toasted malt with a light char, grassy and mildly citrus hops, drip coffee, mild baker's chocolate. Finishes with dark malt, char and somewhat bland grassy hops. Medium bodied with slight creaminess, but good sharp carbonation. A nice black IPA, with pleasant dark base malt, good char and coffee flavors. The hops seem a bit tired, and they might be; this undated bottle doesn't appear that old, but leaves a little trepidation because both hops and coffee do not do well with the passage of time. This is quite drinkable, but unexciting hops although the coffee does seem be full flavored. I liked this and would have it again, but frankly, for the price point I would not invest this much again without knowing the age of the bottle. Just the shipment from Europe takes an unacceptable amount of time for hops and add to it the unknown time in storage and it makes an otherwise very appealing looking beer seem like a gamble. This is a sadly rare style that I like a lot and wish was available more often. Gets a very good, but not great rating until I can try one I know is fresh.

 

 

Some fruity hops upfront. Coffee. Some flowers. Bit of cabbage aroma. Malty, medium sweet flavor. Some soft, hoppy flavors. Medium body. Oily, velvety. Soft carbonation. Bitter finish. Beer in general dominated by roasted coffee malty notes with some hoppy hints.

Poured from 750 mL bottle into snifter.
A: Pours an extremely dark brown with 2-3 inch dark mocha head that is thick and frothy with excellent retention.
S: Pine and citrus hops, light roast coffee, dry chocolate, and hints of dark caramel malt and anise.
T: Herbal (mint), pine, and citrus hops quickly followed by medium roast coffee, dry baker's chocolate, charred wood, earthy minerals, super dark malt, and hints of sweet tobacco and molasses with warming. As it warms even more, dark dried fruit barely emerges.
M: Medium body. Hop astringency and darkly bitter coffee dominate over the sweeter malt notes (allow this to warm for better balance here). Excellent lingering and maturing on the palate.
D: Allow this one to warm a bit which brings the sweeter notes forward to better balance the bitter notes. This one has excellent complexity...a good thinker. This one definitely grew on me. I think it would be best to drink this relatively fresh so as to not lose to much of the hop profile.