Socrates Coffee IPA
The Granary

 

not a black ale as listed, a normal american ipa with coffee. when we were in, they seemed to have discontinued their brewing operations, and this was the only one of their beers remaining, tasted tired, like they were just waiting for it to run out, and i didnt finish my pint. the hops and the coffee have been reduced to bitterness primarily, and there is some oxidation present, no way that was the case when this was new. i like the heaviness of the coffee along with a little sweetness of the malt though, and think those two aspects of the recipe are pretty thoughtful and well crafted, like they probably should still be brewing based on this alone. not sure about the intended citrus hop profile, a little note of an orange twist would be fine, but bitter grapefruit pith intensity is out of place, even in an already strongly flavored beer. very weak on carbonation too, so this lingers and stagnates. i can see the potential, but who knows if i will ever get to experience it in its right form, if they are in fact done making beer. coffee is cool in the style though, especially with the innovative bbq in here, lots of big flavors. curious choices in here right now...