Seven
18th Street Brewery - Gary Taproom

 

 

Sampled at CBC 2016 - second day. Pine resin, cocoa, chocolate and oranges. Nice bitterness, roasty, resiny and citrusy (if these are even real words)

Appearance: Pours from can a pitch black, with tan suds. Little lace at all.

Aroma: Grassy, delicious hops. A little roasty, too. Nice mix.

Taste: Hops, tangy bitterness, and roasty chocolate. Solid and wonderful melding of dark malts and fresh hops. Highly enjoyable.

Aroma is roasty and chocolatey, but contrasted by sharp grapefruit juice notes and pine. Fairly balanced between malt and hop presence.

Flavor is initially more hop dominant, with that pungent grapefruit juice upfront, but roasty and nutty malt quickly appear, fading to chocolate mid palate, finishing fairly dry and a touch bitter, but with chocolate sweetness.

 

 

"All seven and we'll watch them fall. They stand in the way of love. And we will smoke them all. With an intellect and a savior-faire. No one in the whole universe. Will ever compare." These lyrics never made much sense but then again, neither did the idea of "black" and "pale". 18th Street brewers translate those words into a bitter and black taste that once seeps into the tastebuds, makes perfect sense.

Onyx-black and capped with a sturdy mocha-stained meringue, the ominously dark ale shocks the nose with brightness with the first pass- grapefruit, pine, tropical and orange flavors all take on a grilled smoky char with an undercurrent of coffee and burnt sugar. Its moderatly sweet upstart is creamy and starchy with malted milk chocolates and a nougat-like center.

But in IPA fashion, the sweetness is soon thwarted and the ale's attention turns to the hops. Again, the charred taste of hops reveal those sharp and radiant citrus and tropical tones, suggestive of fruit punch and brushfire. As the bitterness of singed pinecones offer their toasted resin character, a coffee-like bitterness links up with the hops for a bitter taste each the hops or roasted grain can achieve on their own.

Full-bodied but trending dry and bitter, the beer's rich texture dissolves effortlessly on the palate and its finish is bitter, charred and with a pep of ash. Burnt citrus peel and pine cones chase the bitter baker's chocolate into a two-handed tandem of kaluha, cocoa and fine espresso grounds.