Flossmoor Station Black Magic IPA

Brewed by Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Flossmoor, Illinois USA

A - Soapy citrus. Interesting roast maltiness, though still IPA dominant. Caramel. Nice mix here. A - Dark black with tan head. Weird to see an IPA do that. 5 for intrigue, and Flossmoor bias. F - Mostly upfront juicy, bitter piney citrus. Great hops are the main focus. Roast malt, almost part of the spotlight. But they do not compliment so well as in a naturally dark style. Still a great taste on both sides, without being to pushy or unbalanced. P - Nice bitter, all around. Average linger. Good mouth and body. Drinkable. O - Another Shimkos IPA I was quite impressed with. I especially enjoyed getting the full piney, citrus grapefruit dose of an IPA with a desirable dark malt background. Nice concept, blend, and balance and mix of generally contrasting or dominant characteristics in a beer. I’d do this regularly.

On tap at Flossmoor. Pours black with a tan head. Doesn’t pour much like an IPA. Aroma is of bitter, juicy hops, malt, roast, citrus, and pine. Damned if it doesn’t smell delicious. Taste starts off with a nice chocolately roast taste. A fair amount of caramel as well. Following the roastiness is a large character of piney, juicy hops. The hop bitterness surprisingly blends well with the roastiness. There is a lot of citrus in this one as well. Has a lingering malty pine taste. Light, crisp mouthfeel. It worked very well, and is drinkalbe as all hell...From my notes...

Tap at Flossmoor. Black pour with red edges when held up to light. Mild sweet grapefruit nose, burnt coffee on taste. Decent IPA, and interesting.

22 oz bottle. Very dark brown, barely clear along the edges. Quick fading head. Nose is grapefruit, orange, a touch of dark fruit and earthy coffee bean. Resiny medium body with a spicy buzz. Starts with caramel and quinine, increasingly bitter with grapefruit. Finishes with burnt sugar and ash. Kind of gritty.

Sample courtesy of nbuttler. An ipa with a black body new to me. Had a good IPA aroma and some grapefruit in the flavor. Thanks Nick

On tap at the brewpub in Flossmoor. I instantly loved the idea behind this beer with the experimentation of a dark ipa. The results turned out pretty good as well. This beer looks like a creamy oatmeal with a fluffy beige cream head, that maintained nicely with thick lacing, medium appearing body, and dark cola brown-black in color. Smelling, on the other hand, takes you completely off-gaurd as I’ve never smelled a beer that dark that was as hop dominated as this one. There are roasted malts in the background, the leafy/flowery hop airiness dominates along with mango, citrus fruits, oat and grainy cereal. As far as the taste/palate goes, the mouthfeel here could have been slightly fuller and slightly more balanced (which is crazy that a beer so dark would need a stronger malt profile), but the finish was very nice with roasted nutty oats that combine with nice bitter that is maintained throughout. Most of the flavor notes coincide with the aroma, so they do play off one another well. Overall, I loved the idea, and definitely enjoyed this is ipa.

On tap at Flossmoor Station. Pours a deep and dark brown, almost black body with a finger-width, tannish brown, creamy head that dissipates at a moderate pace and leaves a clinging lace. Aroma has lots of bright, citrusy lemon and orange pines with a light resin. Some roast comes in slightly, but this aroma seems to lean more towards the hops. A thin caramel sweetness makes its way in there too. The flavor is quite nice. The roasts really come out more at the end, but stay relatively subtle. Lots of pines up front and into the finish where the roasts join up nicely for a dry, moderately bitter, resiny aftertaste that lingers for a long duration. Smooth and medium body with a great balance. Nothing seems over-the-top in the least bit. Overall, a very tasty black IPA. This is really a style I hope to see more of. Lots of pines and blending roasts made this highly enjoyable.

On tap at FS. Pours black with a tan head. Lots of citrus, grapefruit, and floral hops in the nose with some of the roasted malts coming through. The hops really pop in the flavor, medium bitterness fresh citrus and grapefruit. The roast has a slight bitterness that isn’t lost or overdone. Solid IPA, its hard to drink this one slow.