Go Figure
Griffin Claw Brewing Company

 

 

 

This brew was served from the tap at the Griffin Claw Brewing Company taproom in Birmingham, Michigan. It arrived in a house imperial pint, glowing a ruby cola coloring. A solid two finger head of chocolate milk colored soapy and cakey bubbles topped the liquid, retaining forever. This left chunky, moon crater lacing as this finally began to settle out. No haze or sediment was noted, an carbonation appeared to be lighter. The nose caught whiffs of big limey and lemony citric hops, with more bitter grassy and soapy varietals as the beer warmed. Filling the gaps were notes of chlorine and bleach chemical bite, aluminum, melty plastic phenols, chalky black and amber maltiness, synthetic lemon cleaner, sticky succulents, lactose, black plastic garbage bags, label adhesive, and raw barley rinse. The taste gave wet cotton, chalked powdery black and pale malts that are nicely roasty, bitter lemon rind, citric and resiny grassy hops, vanilla, bitter dark chocolate, burnt toffee, toasted molasses, warm plastic, porcelain, dry waxiness, chrome, gingerbread spice, classic Captain Crunch cereal cloy, and muddy mineral. The body was medium to chewy, and carbonation was moderate. Each sip gave okay slurp, smack, cream, and froth, leaving the mouth lightly coated and wet with puckering astringency. The abv was appropriate, and drinkability was easy, but for some reason it just sat there in the glass.

Overall, this here is a standard east coast black IPA that just isn’t that uniquely appealing. The hop flavoring is there for sure, but it doesn’t finish very cleanly. The end is muddy, and wrought with mineral heaviness, odd char, and chemical cloy for balance. It doesn’t quite do the job. Apparently this beer is dry-hopped with four different hop varietals, and although they come out most strongly in the aroma compared with the taste, it still remains rather lackluster. It is not up to the same standard that has been set by many competing beverages, or the west’s Cascadian dark ales. We so badly wanted to love this beer, but felt it just lacked enough substance to reel us in.

Short Review. This was a solid Black IPA, but i thought it was pretty close to being average for the style and I didn't find it to have anything aspect that I thought was really well done and it didn't have anything that made it stick out or be memorable. No need to can this one.

 

 

 

 

 

A- Arrived with a nice, tan head and had the black appearance of a Coke.

S- Smelled hoppy and fresh.

T- Tasted like a very balanced black IPA. Not too bitter, though the bitterness was there, and not at all sweet.

M- Not too thick or thin; just right for the style.

Overall, I liked this and would order it again.