“This dark mahogany ale has a great and delicious malt depth, yet is balanced with supple, energizing bitterness.”
Glassware: English pint.
Appearance: Very deep brown with a mountainous four finger head. Good retention with an absolute smattering of lace left on the glass.
Aroma: One whiff and we’re instantly reminded of our Beelzebub review last week! It has this distinct black IPA quality to it which is oh so American. Punchy pine resins, grapefruit and orange peel lift out with the roasty base of chocolate, charred malts, coffee and those slightly burned edges of a chocolate cake. There’s also a hint of dank weedy herbs in there too.
Flavour: If we didn’t know any better we’d say this was a solid black IPA. The way it hits the taste buds with a clean 50/50 ratio of hops to malts you wouldn’t think it was anything but! Sharp pine needle, pithy grapefruit and orange peel meet with slightly charred malts, dark chocolate and coffee upfront and are literally all still together when it finishes with a serious bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Dry and very bitter. Reasonably light on. Not much in the way of booze but it’s only 5% AbV so one could expect that.
Overall: We watched the 5 minute clip where John Kimmich summed up the beer. He states that he’s kept it traditional yet this is far from a traditional porter. Traditional in the sense of an American porter? Yes. English? No. That aside, it’s a bloody good black IPA oops! We mean porter 😉