Close Encounter Black IPA

Black with thick beige head. Hoppy, piney aroma. Flavour has coffee and roasted malt with a solid piney bitterness. Notes of wood and bitter chocolate in the finish. Solid BIPA.

Pipeworks’ "hopped up stout" from a 50 cl can depicting a science fiction theme in a sort of camp, fifties comics-like style. Moussy, medium thick, lightly lacing, tan head breaking slowly in the middle but retaining well on the edges; black robe with chestnut brown edges. Piney hops jump out of the aroma from a yard distance; upon closer inspection, I get impressions of spruce needles and pine resin, cold espresso, leather, burnt toast, dried grapefruit peel, black pepper, dried sage, really bitter chocolate, salmiak, dried seaweed, vague mandarin somewhere, hints of fried herring, walnut, thyme, cigar ashes, black olive, cured meat, grapefruit peel, slight caramel. Pretty intense onset with a strong umami presence of dried olives and dito seaweed as well as something (cured) meaty, basic roasted barley sourishness and bitterness right from the start, some dried fruits but no true sweetness; supple, oily, smooth body with medium carbonation, a bit minerally but certainly not overcarbonated for a 7% ABV stout. In the middle, a rounded nuttiness quickly makes room for a deep, heavily roasted, coffee- and burnt toast-like, ’black’ bitterness which last for a long time afterwards, enhanced by the promised hoppiness, manifesting itself as a long, dry, resinous, tonic water- and grapefruit peel-like bitterness, bringing with it retronasal aromas of pine, herbs (bayleaf, sage) and the white underside of citrus peel. A lightly warming effect is noticeable in the end but alcohol otherwise remains hidden and the heavy roasted barley bitterness and sourishness linger in the throat long after swallowing. Intense and uncompromizing black beer, one for those who like their beers really bitter, as this one contains almost no sweetness while combining strong roasted bitterness with strong hop bitterness. There are more of these ’hopped up’ stouts and porters around these days, sometimes (especially in Europe) referring to colonial times when it is believed that particularly English brewers added extra hops to export beers in order to better survive the long journeys overseas (a well-known story with only partial historical truth to it). In hopping stouts or porters more than average, the boundaries with the modern black IPA (or Cascadian dark ale) are effectively blurred and I think this beer in particular, which clearly has a very heavy hop profile, is better judged as a BIPA than as a stout - and a very good one in that respect.

473ml can at Ulfborg. Dark brown almost black color with beige brown head. Roasted malty and hoppy aroma, chocolate, coffee, grass, pine, grapefruit. Sweet and bitter taste like aroma. Medium to full oily body with soft carbonation.