Operation Midnight CDhAze
Black Lodge Brewing Company

a collaboration with paragon brewing and an interesting concept, a hazy black ipa, which i may have encountered once or twice before but is a cool approach to the style, even if it seems sort of counterintuitive, seeing haziness in black beer, but in the glass it works, indeed light haze in a pretty dark pour, not quite black but the haze almost lightens it to brownish to me, it still has some shine, is frothy headed, and actually looks pretty dialed in, not as messy as it sounds like it would be, maybe a slightly strange tint to it, but it looks fine. the nose is less roasty and intense than expected, not bitter from roast or hops even though it carries a coffee note from the dark malt, has a hint of dark cocoa, and definite toast and breadiness in its malt middle. the hops smell piney and and grapefruity and northwestern, maybe some lemon lightening things up, on the dry side but with a hint of caramel and candied citrus rind, a little weedy too, very fresh. the flavor is right there too, some up front dankness, spruce, radiant freshness, bigtime dry hops on this and less bitterness that pretty much any other black ipa i can recall drinking, which i guess in part is the goal, hazy types generally are less bitter. this has some cool cocoa character from the dark grain, light smoke, but really isnt all that intense. some herbal character to the hops as it warms, a little sticky, perhaps subtle spearmint in there, smooth and kind of long without being sweet or over hopped. this one felt just a tad amateurish to me, like the idea is a bit more compelling than the execution, but i think the hops are well selected for the grain profile and there is a lot to like here even if i suspect it will get more dialed in with future batches. cool spot, super inventive beers, worth checking out if you havent been in yet!

Crowler from Black Lodge. Dark brown pour with a small tan head. Citrus kind of runs the show here, fruity, sweet, citrusy. Roasty malts are very much in the background. Sweet, citrusy, mild zestiness. Looks like the hazy triumphed over the black IPA here.