Bottle. Didn?t see the pour. Toasty, a bit watery and some pine. Not too bad but a bit light

12oz bottle pours with a dark amber colored body that supports a thin tan head. The aroma offers up dark roasted malts, crispy chocolate brownie and then thin pine and spicy black licorice. The taste delivers a blend of dark roasted malts, toasty brownie and a bit of spicy black licorice. Mild bitter pine hops, spicy hops and an earthy hoppiness surface about midway and into the finish. Decent CDA.

Surprised to see this random beer in the fridge from a mixed case is a new tick as I’ve already tried 3 SN black IPAs! Oh well, verified by joet, so who am I to argue? This one pours a hazy near black with orange highlights, large creamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of roasted malt and tobacco. The taste is pine, resin, tobacco, roast, coffee, honey. Medium bodied, lingering bitterness. Maybe a touch oxidized but in a way that works. Solid.

Bottle from QClub at home. Dark translucent cola brown pour with sudsy light tan head. Aroma is roasted malt with some dank hops. Taste is well balanced straightforward black IPA - bitter pine/grapefruit hops with smooth very dark chocolate/coffee malt. Bitter finish. Really solid - would probably get again.

Bottle from the mixed 12 pack from Market Basket. deep dark brown with faint highlights and a creamy bubbly off white head that persists. Rich roasty caramel and a hint of chocolate along with plenty of earthy pine to counter. Pretty straight forward beer, easy to drink.

Read an article today about the maturation of the craft beer market, how its growth has slowed considerably and consumer tastes are moving away from large, established brewers with national distribution towards fresh, smaller regional fare. Makes sense; fresh and local continues to dominate the restaurant world, so it seems reasonable the beer industry would follow suit. Unfortunately, this change in focus means the more venerable craft breweries have to adapt; Stone appears to be doing alright, but Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada have seen their market share slipping, their brands no longer considered sexy or innovative. Such contraction makes sense; hard to convince a 25-year-old hipster Boston Lager or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a cool pint when some super-cloudy fresh-hopped juicy IPA from an upstart local brewery occupies the next tap. And when the new, "experimental" beers offered by these old-school craft breweries are as staid and unimpressive as Sierra Nevada’s Black IPA, you kinda see the hipsters’ point. Black IPA is a thoroughly underwhelming brew, lacking a roasted malt punch or any noticeable hop-forward character, instead dropping Sierra Nevada’s typical piney hop profile onto a mediocre dark beer. (Compare this to the Juniper Black IPA they released a few years ago, which might be their strongest, most original IPA to date.) It’s a nice idea, putting out an IPA mixed pack featuring some new recipes, but each one of these new brews still feels behind the curve. Sierra Nevada has the resources to make amazing beer; hell, they still occasionally do--I’m a Sierra Nevada fan, believe it or not. But the market’s changing. They need to adapt, and fast. Contraction is a inevitability following such a period of massive expansion the craft beer industry has seen in the past decade. Sierra Nevada can brew good beer. They just need to start brewing exciting beer. And their Black IPA is not exciting. Not in the least.

Bottle. Chocolate malt, orange, and grapefruit peel aroma. Dark brown with large brown head. Moderately sweet orange, chocolate malt, and moderately bitter grapefruit peel flavor. Nice body. Pretty malty but that’s what I like.

Bottle pour into shaker pint glass from One Stop Market. Appearance is dark reddish brown with haziness from floaties, no sparkle, 2-finger width rocky, fluffy beige head with decent retention and nice foamy lacing. Aroma is pine, grapefruit and citrus with roasted malt. Taste is mix of lightly roasted malts, grapefruit and citrus hops. Palate is light-to-medium bodied with smooth texture, average carbonation and mix of sweet and bitter finish. Overall, aroma and flavor is pretty restrained.

Tap at J’s. Pours a deep brown with a half finger of foam. Hoppy nose with citrus and light piney resin. Chocolate and light caramel. Well-balanced and smooth, not acrid like a lot of black ipa’s tend to be. Smooth with a lingering chocolatey finish with some light bitterness.