Midnight Radio
Woodland Empire Ale Craft

16oz can from Woodland Empire. Black pour, thick beige foamy head. Aroma is roasty, chocolate, sweet. Taste starts with roasty bitterness, sweet chocolate. Smooth, delicious.

 

excellent new brew in the mixtape ipa series here, cool cans too. this is neat on a number of levels. the first is that its not all that dark, looks more brown than black, and features more mid palate chocolate type malt and mellower roast than the deepest and darkest of these, no burnt coffee, no charred barley, its well short of that, and as such derives most of its bitterness from hops, in the sense that its not bitterness double jeopardy with the dark grain, smart, and it makes this more drinkable to me without sacrificing complexity on the malt side. expert. the hop profile is the other thing i like, and while simcoe is a pretty familiar hop for this sort of thing, grapefruit notes and pine, its more modern than that because of the addition of cashmere, which i really havent seen in this context before. its juicy in a cool way, has some tropical character, and it softens this, especially with the citra in the mix as well, more lush and less classically intense than a lot of these, its almost summery despite being dark as a result, really clever. the ferment is clean, the body is only medium, and the carbonation is high, all of which keep this drinking easier than most. to me the cashmere hops make this, really compatible in this style, but the whole thing is really well done. best new one ive had from these guys in awhile!