“Our first born and forever our favourite, Obsidian is a big black ale in the mould of a black IPA. Cola and coffee hide slight raspberry followed by chocolate and toast. Black malts with bold grassy hoppiness make this a gem of a black beer to treasure.”
Glassware: IPA glass.
Appearance: Solid black with a thumb of tanned foam emerging on top. Good head retention and healthy lace sticking to the glass as it ebbs.
Aroma: It displays a hearty roasted character which is underlined by the bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, coffee, cherry cola and subtle figjam while the piney and at times floral hops add that brilliant balance and freshness to it. It’s a very well polished aroma.
Flavour: Follows on from the nose with semi-rich roasted notes, chocolate and coffee which roll swiftly in to the floral and piney hops. An aggressive bitterness opens up on to orange peel and grapefruit late in the piece. Nice dry finish with a hint of pine and roasted malt lingering on the back palate.
Mouthfeel: Up until now it’s been practically faultless but the texture is a bit too thin for us. The 65 IBU and 6.8% AbV don’t mess around. Mild-moderate co2.
Overall: This is just our 2nd entry as their beers are quite hard to source in NSW. It’s a shame coz they’re bloody decent! Honestly all this beer needs is a couple of small tweaks and it’d be a world class drop.