Back Road Black IPA

A black color on this one. The aroma is chocolate, toffee, and some citrus. I expected to taste more citrus but that’s ok. The flavor is roasty with some coffee, chocolate, and again just a hint of citrus shows. This seems more like a stout than an IPA. Overall a pretty good beer though.

(Hand-bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=7443 target=blank>BBB63, thanks Mike!) Pours dark birch beer brown with only a small wisp of tan head. Looks a little flat. Aroma is some piney hops with a hint of slightly burnt molasses or caramel underneath. Mouthfeel is medium full, lightly prickly, lightly syrupy but that could be exacerbated by a lack of carbonation. Flavor is sweet and hoppy like an IPA but combined with roasty slightly burnt coffee/chocolate and some char and ash. Lingering bitterish coffee/chocolate and ash aftertaste. Sort of reminds me of Hoppin Frog Black and Tan, another hybrid of stout and IPA. My comment is the same on this one, that I think the flavors kind of collide even though they may be good individually. This one a little harder to judge because body must have gotten compromised in the hand-bottling but overall I wasn’t that impressed with the taste.

Tap. Cocoa malt and pine hops aroma. Black color with moderate head. Light chocolate malt and extremely strong pine hops flavor. Great hoppy beer - essentially a dark I2PA.

Hand bottle from BBB63. Pours a slightly translucent, dark mahogany color with crimson highlights. A minimal tan film leaves no lacing behind on the glass. The aroma is far more malty than I was expecting from a brew that tout’s itself as a "black IPA". I picked up dark chocolate, burnt caramel, marshmallow, and dried dark frits on the nose. A touch of coffee and mild, earthy hops were also present. The dominant flavor component is scorched caramel, followed by heavily sweetened coffee, chocolate, and a bitter, earthy hop finish. The bitterness intensifies over time and lingers for ages, with black coffee growing stronger and stronger. The body is on the light side of medium in stature. This is kind of a weird beer. It reminds me of a hoppy Shwarzbier more than anything else, though I know it is an ale. Seems like it is an attempt at Stone’s 11th Anniversary brew, but it falls well short of such lofty aspirations.

On tap at the brewery. Pour is black with a light brown head. The lace formed on the glass like armadillo rings. The aroma was coffee with some spicy hops. Pretty much the same in the flavor. Very bitter. Medium body. High carbonation. Dry finish. Another solid beer.

Tap at brewery: Nearly opaque with a frothy head and great lace. The aroma has notes of nice pine and grapefruit, plum, roasted and chocolate malt, mineral water. The taste starts with a sharp bitterness of hop and heavy roasted malts over some fruity citric notes. Pungent throughout with a peppery and chalky finish. The mouth feel is lively and sharp with a very dry finish. A winner, very well attenuated to show both hop and malt profiles.