Heretic
Upper Pass Beer Company in Burlington, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Black / Cascadian Dark Regular|
Score
6.99
|
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Dark, roasty, clean; three descriptions that you don't often see attributed to IPAs these days, but before you yell “Heresy!” we urge you to give this often overlooked style a revisit. As with most beers we put out from our little farmhouse brewery we added our own little twist to the style by selecting hops with newer pedigrees and unique characteristics which we felt worked well with the style then pumping up the ABV to 8%. Heretic is clean and slightly roasty upfront with a smooth body and balanced bitterness. Layered flavors of citrus and pine mingle with light chocolate notes from the roast malt to create a familiar yet altogether new experience.
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7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 8
Reviewed from notes.
Can to tulip.
Appearance: black in the pour and black in the glass with a finger's worth of khaki foamy head which trailed off nicely to leave some light lace
Aroma: mixed citrusy to piney hops clamp down on a roasty to bitter dark malt base allowing some black coffee notes and a light cocoa powder coming about for more balance
Flavor: meshes the prior noted aromas to a fine sweet to bitter and subtly roasty quality; finishes dry and roasty with some light cocoa powdery sweet tones
Texture: medium bodied, leaning into being a sipper; some dry smoothness as some of the hopeful "palate wrecking" capabilities come about as I wanted them to - maybe not to the strength of some other noted "black IPA's" but I'll just say this is about "medium to almost full strength"
Overall: for the most part, I'd say it's a pretty good black IPA I believe I would return to.
Can to tulip.
Appearance: black in the pour and black in the glass with a finger's worth of khaki foamy head which trailed off nicely to leave some light lace
Aroma: mixed citrusy to piney hops clamp down on a roasty to bitter dark malt base allowing some black coffee notes and a light cocoa powder coming about for more balance
Flavor: meshes the prior noted aromas to a fine sweet to bitter and subtly roasty quality; finishes dry and roasty with some light cocoa powdery sweet tones
Texture: medium bodied, leaning into being a sipper; some dry smoothness as some of the hopeful "palate wrecking" capabilities come about as I wanted them to - maybe not to the strength of some other noted "black IPA's" but I'll just say this is about "medium to almost full strength"
Overall: for the most part, I'd say it's a pretty good black IPA I believe I would return to.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Mar 2026
at 12:47