Onyx
Donner Creek Brewing

 

i liked this little place and this is a solid black ipa, light in body for both its strength and its flavor punch. a fine marriage of dark roasty grain character with fresh and bitter piney northwestern hops it seems, lots of life to this, and a unique type of balance where the hops and grain both contribute a lot to the beer, but its without a sweeter more conventional middle, its just the roast really, but never quite gets to that bitterness double jeopardy range and it does maintain its smoothness too. shiny and not quite black from the tap, reddish deep dark brown with a lot of head on it, big soda-like bubbles off white with fine retention. it smells like unlit cigarette, dark brewed drip coffee, and fresh cut pine around holiday time, a little softer chocolate malt thing hits as well, maybe faint smoke and raisin, some weediness to the hops but not overdone, rather tidy on the ferment it seems too, simple beer to my nose, but in a good way. the flavor follows, roast and hops together the whole way, it kind of all hits at once and stays on the palate awhile, but still also the whole thing feels fairly light in terms of texture, good carbonation assisting with that. this is a style i like a lot, but has kind of dried up over the last bunch of years, good to encounter this one, a nice take. cool spot this little brewery, we had a blast drinking beers in here!