Black Aye PA

Bottle from Cotteridge Wines; dark brown pour with a frothy off white head, pine and dark chocolate aroma, taste has chocolate, roast malts, liquorice, some pine, quite earthy with a feint hit of coffee.

Cask (Fitzgeralds, Sunderland) - Black in colour. Pine, soapy hops and fudge in the aroma. Pine, liquorice and fudge feature in the taste.

How: Bottle.
Where: omh tasting, 2014-04-11.
Appearance: Dark brown colour with a small tan head.
Aroma: Grapefruit, liquorice, earthy.
Body: Medium body and carbonation.
Flavour: Grapefruit, roasted malt, liquorice.

500ml bottle. Pours black -brown with a reddish tinge and a foamy tan head leaving lots of lacing. Aroma is roasted malt and citrusy hop. Taste is roast malt, dark chocolate, coffee against fruity citrusy hoppiness and some lingering bitterness. Medium bodied, soft to medium carbonation, dry roast earthy bitter finish. Quite drinkable.

Bottled. Hazy dark brown, small head. Buttery licorice and graepfruit aroma. Mid dry with medium body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. Chocolate and grapefruit. Really bitterness.

Cask at the Ivy House - Nunhead, London. Pours dark brown with a frothy, webby beige head. The nose give subtle burnt pine, some minerals, dark bread. Medium sweet flavor with lots of toasted brown bread, burnt sugars, light earthy pine, dry chocolate. Medium bodied with fine carbonation; good condition. Mild burnt pine resins to finish, more earth, dry cocoa, burnt toast. Perfectly acceptable CDA.
Earlier Rating: 7/10/2013 Total Score: 2.8
Bottle shared at the ChrisO Flags of Many Nations Easter Tasting 2013 - London. Pours clear, red-brown with a fine, tan foam head. Has sort of a moldy brown bread aroma. Light to medium sweet flavor with some wet brown bread, toasted pine and dirt. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly sticky on the finish with more wet toasted bread and faint pine. Lackluster stuff here.

Very dark brown. Aroma is peppery. Flavour has strong, bitter roast malt and aromatic hippy aftertaste.

On tap at the Guildford Arms. Appearance - it has red chinks on the side but it’s dark and mysterious. Nice cream to fawn head. Beautiful. Nose - toffee and chocolate but it’s elegant. Taste - oh lovely Crunchie Bar. Honeycomb followed in rapidly by milk chocolate. Tasty. Palate - medium bodied with a creamy texture and a long dry finish. Overall - maybe I’ve been poured from the wrong tap but this is more ESB than Black IPA. Goid though.
Earlier Rating: 2/3/2013 Total Score: 3.7
50cl bottle from Appellation Wines. Pours a beautiful chestnut brown with a dull red hue. There’s a generous foamy head. The nose has chocolate orange, so giving some each of the malt and hops character as promised on the bottle. The taste has a small amount of choclate but it quickly fades to subside into the orange and grapefruit hop character. The palate is medium bodied with a little bit of creaminess in the texture and then a long bitter finish. Overall, a tasty ale which lives up to the hop character though I’d prefer just a little more chocolate.

Keg at Three Tuns. It pours deep ruby with a medium beige head. The nose is smooth roast, resin, dark fruit, cocoa, light barnyard, treacle and ryebread. The taste is bitter-sweet, pine, varnish, soft roast, toast, coffee and tangy dark fruit with a bitter, roasted finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. Tasty and very drinkable.
Earlier Rating: 5/27/2013 Total Score: 3.5
Bottle at home from Highland Bottle Shop, Inverness. It pours deep ruby brown with a medium beige head. The nose is roasted malt, caramel, earth, light spice, chocolate and dark fruit. The taste is roast, tangy dried fruit, cocoa, coffee, mild bitterness, zesty orange and grapefruit with a dry, mildy roasty finish. Medium body and moderate carbonation. Interesting for sure, but I’m not sure if the balance is quite there. Decent nonetheless.