Well, like all of these infernal things that are hard to do right - soufflés, sex, making a decent Cosmopolitan - when it's done right, it's exceptional. The black IPA was first brewed by Greg Noonan at the Vermont Brew Pub in the mid-1990s, and while there is some debate on Twitter as to the first British black IPA, it seems likely that Thornbridge Raven was there first. Although maybe the BrewDog/Stone collaboration Bashah (it stands for Bitter As Sin, Hoppy As Hell, apparently) might have been the first UK-based version, should you allow collabs to be included.
The thing is, although black IPA is one of the styles du jour, it's something that is rarely done right here. Archetypes of the style (Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous and Southern Tier Iniquity are cited most often) manage to combine the balance of smooth, chocolatey dark malt with a huge hop hit in a way that seems totally unforced. Many UK versions seem to go overboard on the bitter dark malt, making a beer with the dry, smoky astringent edge of a stout with a big hop load. Trying one particularly roasty example with Sean Franklin (founder of Roosters) prompted me to comment "It's a tasty beverage, but it's not a black IPA". He grinned, and concurred. Sat with Garrett Oliver in North Bar a few months ago with another local example, he took and swig and said "that's good, but it's not a black IPA". A smooth, chocolatey note is apparently how the darker malt should manifest itself.
Moor Illusion falls slightly between two stools. It is indeed a tasty beer, and having tracked it's evolution over a few batches, it's certainly becoming more hoppy and less maltily bitter, although it still has that vague "hmmm, there's quite a lot of roast flavour here" thing going on. But having a bottle of this to hand on a quiet afternoon recently, newspapers to hand, was a blissful situation. It may not be an archetypal black IPA, but it is a tasty beer.
NOTE: I buy and sell this beer through the business I own, although I don't think this has influenced my opinion of it
yeee haaaa
ReplyDeleteAdd Deschutes Hop in the Dark to your list.
ReplyDeleteI think Emmelisse have pretty much got it nailed down.
ReplyDeleteWindsor & Eton Conqueror. Brilliant. Nothing else to say.
ReplyDeleteBrodies Black IPA... definitely my british fave.
ReplyDeleteImperial Black- Buxton ranks right up there with the greats.
ReplyDeletealthough I've enjoyed many of the 'Black IPAs' I still can't get my head round a Black Pale Ale. Oddly for an American Style I can find no Style Guidelines, which raises the question as to what is the archetypal Black IPA? Is it Greg Noonan's beer at VPB, which is thought to be the first? And if it's not, why? Surely the first of anything defines what it is.
ReplyDeleteBlack IPA is a mystery to us, for now, but then we've not had many/any of those people suggest as good examples.
ReplyDeleteFor those who haven't tried a Black IPA, blending two beers can emulate the taste. I'd suggest, say, 3 parts Fuller Porter to 1 part of Jaipur IPA. Use any stout or porter basically, and any American Pale Ale or U.K.-made beer in that style. There are different styles of Black IPA, I tend to like the type Zak mentioned and that he said Garrett also likes, but some are more frankly stout-like with a dose of those American hops. It's an excellent style when the balance is right, and the ideal balance depends on each person...
ReplyDeleteGary