Darkwater Floridian Dark Ale
Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville, Florida, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Black / Cascadian Dark Regular|
Score
7.21
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A dark, hoppy Floridian Dark Ale. This award winning dark ale features a rich smoothness and complex hop profile. Blackwater Floridian Dark Ale is an American-style Black Ale at the low end of the IPA alcohol range (6.4% ABV), with an abundance of hop flavor and aroma. It represents what we consider to be an improvement on what are being called Black IPAs, or Cascadian Dark Ales, deriving its "darkness" from chocolate wheat malt rather than the bitter roasted barley used in most examples of this new style. The name is derived from Florida’s "Blackwater" rivers, which are dark in tannins from the native oak trees. Blackwater was created through a collaboration between Head Brewer Craig Birkmaier and Eric Luman, Head Brewer at Jacksonville’s Green Room brewery. It was judged the Best Beer in Florida at the 2011 Best Florida Beer Competition.
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6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 8
Near black opaque, full tan head. Sharp citric catty nose of cascade hops. Resiny citric bitter finish. Some roast. Very reminiscent of Shakespeare Stout, but more rough around the edges. Still fairly nice.
Tried
on 06 Jul 2011
at 07:37
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Sample at Dunedin. 4000 beers, with no end in sight. This brew pours black with a medium tan head that recedes steadily to a film. Stringy lacing on the glass. The aroma is roasty with notes of malt and piney hops. Medium body with flavors of toasted malt, resiny hops, pine and citrus. The finish is hoppy with a lingering citrus aftertaste. Solid Black IPA all around.
Tried
on 01 Jul 2011
at 09:19
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Tasted at the Cigar City – Swamp Head tap take-over event. It pours muddy mahogany with tan head. The aroma offers up citrus hops, sweet citrusy jam, citrus hop resin and a modest level of dark roasted malts. The taste is crisp and hoppy citrusy goodness going from orange peel to tangelo to sweet orange marmalade and then into bitter grapefruit juice. I only get modest to mild levels of various dark roasted malts and chocolate malts. Yummy easy drinking brew, and I drank a lot of this during the event, but this is on the outer edges (the sessionable edge) of this new beer style.
Tried
from Draft
on 25 Jun 2011
at 18:32
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Tap at Proof thanks to local RB folks: Poured a deep black with a thin tan head. Aroma is light hops. Taste is nice gritty full flavored hops. Very nice black IPA.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 May 2011
at 07:50