Black Is The Colour
Boundary Brewing

440ml can from The Wine Company, Belfast (£4.30):
Deep Ruby to black & opaque with a quarter cm head that's frothy & light tan head that sticks to the sides a little too. The nose is sharp & relatively fresh with light pine hops, earthy malts & some lemon zest to finish. Its definitely more malty on the taste with some roasted flavours & a coffee bitterness although some of the pine hops & citrus flavours come through behind them. The balance needs a lot of works but the body is about medium & it's lightly carbonated with a lingering bitterness at the end.

Pours a very dark brown, almost black, coloration with a medium, creamy head. Smells of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee and resinous, citrus hops, with notes of grapefruit and pine. Taste is a good balance of roasted, biscuity malt, quite zesty citrus notes of grapefruit and lime peel and lighter coffee, chocolate and pine. Finishes with a medium/strong bitterness and some zesty citrus and lighter pine lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth, velvety mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

This is a really nice Black IPA with the expected roasted malt and bitter, resinous hop notes, although the quite zesty citrus presence seems a little heavy-handed here, somewhat taking away from the chocolate and coffee notes that feel a little overshadowed here. Still a very enjoyable of the style though, I never had a Black IPA that I didn't like, to be honest.