Brewed Awakening Black Coffee IPA
Bell City Brewing Co

 

 

 

Can...pours a dark light defying black brown with a 3 finger tan color meringue cap. Aroma Coffee, roasty, floral, spicy in good balance and almost understated. Flavor strikes a narrow balance between roasty, coffee tones, roasty maltiness and juicy hop bittering, the finish is where the roasty/malty body breaks away and the hop bittering takes over, going to a palate tingling bitter end and aftertaste...dunno why they brewed a coffee IPA but this one is properly balanced enough that it works...decent IPA mutant.

A passably good coffee beer. I'm thinking that the primary differences between this IPA based brew and a more traditional porter is in the extra sweetness and reduced ashiness. The hops are more noticeable in this concoction. Mostly an average type brew across the board, but capable of piling up a good head, leaves some lace and settles to a substantial cap. Dark walnut in colour.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Feb 23 2018 and served slightly chilled. Reviewed on my phone.

This so-called coffee IPA pours a deep mahogany brown - pretty dark, but not opaque, as some garnet red highlights become visible when it's held near the lamp. Just under an inch of lumpy, beige-coloured foam rises to the top, steadily disintegrating within the next five minutes; a thin collar and a slick of soapy film stick around, but it's that big, beautiful, even band of lacing that successfully completes the look. The smell is mostly earthy and roasty, with hints of cocoa, pine and indeterminate citrus strewn amidst the current of mocha coffee goodness.

The flavour profile is easy enough to like, with its roasted malts offering up cocoa and mocha notes; these together serve as a nice complement to the roasted coffee bean astringency, which is present throughout the sip. Maybe a faint suggestion of plum in there too, but the sip goes on to conclude with an earthy hop bitterness that includes hints of pine resin which fade into a roasty aftertaste. On the fuller side of medium-bodied, with low-ish carbonation levels and a soft, smooth, pleasing texture. Fairly good drinkability - neither too bitter nor too sweet; decently well-rounded.

Final Grade: 3.63, a passable B grade. Bell City's Brewed Awakening is, at least to my recollection, the first 'coffee IPA' I have tried to date, so it wins a few bonus points for being a novel addition to the shelves of the Ontario market. Still, it does come off as a bit too safe, with the hop contributions in particular coming off as nothing special for the style. It's decent stuff - I do dig the coffee flavours, but the underlying black IPA is just a bit too generic for it to become a regular pick-up for this BA.

473 ml can served cold into a chalice. LCBO purchase for $3.35 CDN. Canned February 23, 2018.

Appearance - Very dark brown near black. Multiple fingers of light, fluffy and loose tan head, Plenty of retention and loads of lacing. good looking beer.

Smell - Some coffee, hints of pine and a general roastiness to the aroma. Not super aromatic, but pleasant overall.

Taste - A little bit of coffee, plenty of burnt malts and some piney and earthy hoppiness.

Mouthfeel - Astringent, medium bodied, with a drying finish. Crabonation is medium-low.

Overall - A decent if unspectacular Black IPA that doesn't really focus on coffee any more than the other local Black IPA's I've run across in recent months and years. Still solid enough across the board to warrant a second can.