Tag Archives: black ale

SURLY/ LERVIG 1349 BLACK ALE

Bold collaboration (with Norway’s Lervig) brewed with abundant Ethiopian coffee and black patent malts picks up lightly resinous Simcoe-Amarillo hop char as well as piney dried fruiting. Ascending coffee-sugared carafa roast elevates black molasses-dried espresso milking and sweet vanilla snip above tertiary dark cherry, plum, pineapple and yellow grapefruit remnant.

SOLEMN OATH NONE MORE BLACK

Interpolating a Cascadian Dark Ale (a.k.a. Black IPA) with sour saison yeast and earthen barnyard funk, far-reaching farmhouse brew allows dark-roasted mocha malting, pine-charred hop bittering and spoiled citrus piquancy to set the tone. Raw molasses tarring embitters chocolate-roasted coffee bean backdrop. In the distance, dry bourbon and burgundy undertones emerge alongside a smidgen of mildewed peat soiling.

(SURLY) BLAKKR IMPERIAL BLACK ALE

Surly-brewed canned version from shared recipe (with Texas’ Real Ales and Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing) is stylistically as good as it gets. A complex Imperial Stout/ IPA-styled Cascadian Dark Ale, its expansive flavor profile combines rich mocha nuttiness with brisk citric fruiting. Initial coffee whimsicality, dried cocoa bittering and mild caramel latte creaming deepen dark-roasted chocolate malting over pine-charred hop roast. Sweet orange peel zest sprinkles grapefruit, pineapple and lemondrop illusions just below the brown chocolate-y surface. Well done.

LAGUNITAS NIGHT TIME ALE

Magnificent full-bodied black ale bests stylistic competition with its richly creamed mocha theme and sublime floral-bound fruited nature. Dark-roasted black chocolate malting allows nutty coffee, cocoa nibs and molasses tones to flourish above ashen piney hop acridity (and fresh evergreen aromatics). Orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering affects subtler pineapple-papaya-mango-kiwi tropicalia as well as laidback black cherry, tangerine and navel orange smidge. “Fear the Dark,” indeed!

TWO ROADS ROUTE OF ALL EVIL BLACK ALE

Cool devilish artwork outdoes nebulous ‘black ale’ styling, but not by much. As expected, dark-roasted chocolate seeding and subtle tropical fruiting embittered by piney beechwood char above toasted hop spine. Apple-skinned grapefruit, pineapple and mango undertones pervade plastique black licorice remnant and slim herbal passage, leading to a wavered charcoal-burnt chocolate fondue finish.