Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA Returns

That would be awesome. I really enjoyed the Double Bastard and Lucky Bastard.

 

Don’t judge me for day drinking but I just did the side by side. Wookey comes off as roasty up front with a nice complementary fruity hop bitterness on the finish. SSR has a more aggressive piney bitter hop bite up front and a subtle roasty chocolatey finish. Wookey reminds me more of a hoppy Porter where SSR reminds me more of an IPA brewed with dark malt. Both are delicious but I’d give Wookey the edge as the better beer. It’s close though. $15 a six pack 12oz for SSR is a better buy than $20 a four pack 16oz for Wookey. All in all, I’m thinking of picking up more of each tomorrow.

 

Is a black IPA similar in flavor profile to an extremely hoppy stout?

 

Just grabbed some locally 12/29 bottling, that’s super impressive on stones end.

 

You will read diverging viewpoints here. For my palate my preference for Black IPAs were beers that like those brewed by Kernal Brewing.

In a past thread a poster brought up the discussion as a comparison of Black IPA vs. a Hoppy Porter (vs. RIS). Below is something I posted in that thread:

I think that the brewer of Kernal Brewery (London, England) has a good perspective on the topic of Black IPA vs. hoppy Porters.

“Black IPA (or more simply; IBA) versus Export India Porter

I know that the style, naming, etc. of these dark ales has been discussed to death on here, but hopefully a recent email that I received will add a little more information to the discussion. There may be others, but I could only find one brewery that brewed both an India Porter and a Black IPA and that brewery is the Kernel Brewery in London. So I decided to send off an email asking for some brewer's insight as to what they saw as the differences, given that they decided to brew both as distinct styles. They were more than courteous to explain it as they saw it. I thought that their reply was interesting enough to share here. Here is their reply...

Thanks for the email. We really appreciate the fact that you care enough to ask us about these beers, because for us that is partly the reason for brewing them.

I think that any brewery would have their own take on certain styles, and what one brewery calls style 'x' another would call style 'y'. So we can only speak of our own interpretation of the difference between a Black IPA and an Export India Porter. To put it simply, while both beers use dark malts and lots of hops, the Black IPA should be definitely dominated by the hops, while the EIP should be dominated by the darker malts. There probably is a point between these 2 styles where they may meet, but it is important to us to keep them distinct.

Our Black IPA keeps to a simple IPA recipe, with the addition of Carafa III malt, which is a dark roasted malt, but it has been dehusked or debittered, so it provides colour and a chocolate flavour, but not the roasted astringent flavour of more classic dark malts (roasted barley or black malt). It is not quite a Pale IPA coloured black, but the hops still dominate the flavour profile.

We brewed the first EIP partly to answer the question that was often thrown at us as to what the difference was between a black IPA and a hoppy porter. The recipe we used is from 1855. We kept the grain bill the same, but decided to change the hops to US varieties and have used them in a manner similar to a modern IPA. This is already moving the EIP in the direction of a Black IPA. But the malt still dominates. It is roasty, ashy, astringent, chocolatey, and then the hops kick in with some lighter notes.

Hope this helps. Have you managed to try both of these beers from us?

Let us know if you have any further questions.

All the best.

Evin”

 

Stone Escondidian
Carton Epitome
Founders Dark Pennance
Hill Farmstead Society & Solitude #2

Perhaps my Mount Rushmore of all-time great Black IPA/ Black ales!

Phenomenal beers that I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy....

Cheers

 

No sightings yet here in CT...

 

I dont know what kind of witchcraft they do in VT, but S&S #2 was the perfect Black IPA to me. No ways to improve that beer. Mouthfeel, aroma, taste all perfect.

 

Forgot about Dark Penance - that was a good one.

 

Give it some time, it just showed up in San Diego grocery stores this week.

 

Walked by $17.99 six packs today

Enjoy

 

Grabbed a six for $16.99. This was one of my favorite beers a while back, I’m ok with that price for a one time purchase to revisit an old standby.

 

The Stone version is not. Not as heavy in taste, but lighter as in an IPA.
Give it a try. It's worth it and then make the judgement yourself.

 

Had one last night. Just as good as I remembered.

 

Just picked up a sixer for $16.99 in the south suburbs of Cleveland. Will have one later today.

 

On the shelf here, not on my menu this week. I’m going to new beers this weekend.

 

Dale, what's the price tag in NC?

Cheers!

 

Damn, I think $14.99, but I won’t swear to that.

 

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Any sightings in Chicago?