Blend your own Black IPA!

Back when Stone was still small and well before releasing Subliminally Self Righteous, I was there getting growlers filled at the original Mata way location (now Lost Abbey). The person working said 'have you tried the blended 'smoked indian' yet? 2/3 IPA 1/3 Smoked Porter. It was great and I got 2 growlers of it. Then I would regularly buy Stone IPA and Smoked Porter and blend it myself. I haven't done that in many years.

 

I've done this before, and was never terribly pleased with the results. I found the blended a stout carrier over too much roasted malt character.

 

I’ve done this black and tan before. It was fun to say I tried it but wasn’t particularly good. Which probably should have been the expectation; and for what it’s worth I very much like WWS and love DFH 120min as stand alone beers. So if you’re adventurous try it once, but once is enough IMO.

I used to dabble with B&T experimentation on occasion, honestly never had great success, with the exception of using Guinness as one of the two. There’s really something to those OG black and tans, also I think B&Ts drink differently (better) when they are layered, in some ways you get to enjoy both beers on their own and together! The non-guinness version I remember liking the most was a COAST Brewing Company mix of Boy King and Blackbeerd, that seemed to work real well. I do like a number of variations that use Guinness, my favorite was Guinness and SN Pale Ale. Used to get that all the time at my favorite Irish Pub before it burned down. I think they called it a “Black Mountain”.

Interesting thought about blending these with the intentions to mimic a black ipa, I never blended with that intention but I could see that being an interesting approach.

 

One can adjust ratios to preference:

 

Storm King was almost a black IPA on its own.

Enjoy

 

Yeti used to be hoppy AF as well. Haven't had it in years now, probably worth a revisit on my part.

 

Hah - this reminds me of the Sam Adams mixed 12 (maybe it was winter?) a decade or so ago where they had the cherry wheat and the milk stout. Cherry wheat was too sweet for me, but someone on this forum recommended blending the 2 to get a passable cherry stout. It worked - good way to consume a beer I didn’t really care for.

 

ETA - it was the sam adams cream stout I was thinking of

 

Agree with both of you but sadly storm king has been no more for a while now.

 

I've done the Black&Tan to tone down roasty bitterness of some very dark brews. Often with pleasing results.

 

I’m a big fan of black IPAs and so why not give this a shot, @Snowcrash000. Bells had one out a few months back, Black Hearted that was fantastic. So here I tried a nice bitter Kalamazoo stout and Stone IPA. Turned out pretty dam good.