21st Amendment Back in Black

Brewed by 21st Amendment Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Francisco, California USA

Best of the night at Pizzeria Paradiso in Dupont Circle. Drught. Jet black with large, thick brown head. Aroma of caramel and citrus, flavor of smoke and roasted coffee with a light background of chocolate. Late bitterness and bitter finish. Balanced and complex.

Draft at Churchkey. This is my first black IPA for what it’s worth. Pours opaque black. Overwhelming grapefruit in the aroma. So much so that I can’t get anything else. Thin creamy head, disappears quickly but leaves lots of lacing. Taste: lots of grapefruit but some pine. Thick mouthfeel, almost like a Russian imperial. Bizarre (and has some palette dissonance) to have this palette with the hop profile. Back end has a peculiar combo of hop bitterness and stout bitterness. I love this beer. Well balanced. I would drink this any time. Awesome.

Draught at the brewpub. Dark brown with a lasting light beige head. The aroma is a total pink grapefruit bomb with some fresh cut white fir (I just cut some down the day before, so it was in my head). Great smelling beer. The flavor is much like their regular IPA (on tap, not the pathetic cans) in that is very strong on the citric hops and dry in the finish, but with enough malt in the body to carry things. The dark malt adds a touch more sweetness in the front, and light chocolate that gives a nice compliment to the hop flavor. Not the most "black" black IPA that I have had, but the balance seems about right. Very good overall, riding on the back of that explosive hop aroma.

[Draft @ CAH] Dark brown / black with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of floral hops, pine, citrus fruits, some roast, toffee and toast. Taste of citrus fruits, pine, resin, vanilla, toffee, some roast, and a bit of cocoa, with a bitter, grapefruit finish.

Time to bump this unappreciated genius in beer form! Excellent black IPA - full of that charcoal bitterness synergizing with the hop bitterness. Goes down easy, but leaves a nice back biting mark. Pours, well, black with tan head.

Draft at Ron’s in Lionville, PA. Poured black in color with a medium sized tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of grapefruit hops, roasted malts, chocolate, coffee. Tastes of grapefruit, pine, chocolate, roasted coffee, and caramel. A pretty nice black IPA.

Tap. The malt side is of moderate toasted, heavy spruce for the hops, light leather for the yeast, with background notes of charcoal and pepper. Head is large, frothy, slightly off-white with fair lacing and is almost fully diminishing. Color is clear dark brown. Flavor starts slightly sweet and moderately acidic, then finishes moderately acidic and heavily bitter. Palate is light to medium, watery with a lively carbonation. The aroma is fantastic in this but the flavor lags behind a bit. Still a great IPA.

I had this on draft at 21st Amendment. They said it was a black IPA not a schwarzbier, oh well. Whatever category you put it in, I thought it was pretty good. Hoppy yet roasty, but the two complement each other well.