Southern Tier Iniquity

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

THOUGHTS: Nice. I’ve had better, but still don’t think I’ve had a bad, dark IPA, yet. It was fairly mellow and easy to drink at first, but became overly dry in the finish was time moved on. Make sure to drink this one fairly warm, because the cold masks almost everything good about this one. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured an extremely dark red that looked nearly black in the glass with a small to average, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy, caramel, chocolate and chocolate milk; moderate to heavy resinous hops and a little less piney hops; slight soy sauce, a bit rubbery, but I think that’s really the resinous hops. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, bitter and slightly acidic; while the finish was sweet, very bitter and slightly acidic with a long duration. There was caramel and roasted malt, a little chocolate, slight coffee, resinous hops, some pine and a little dark fruit. The full body was a bit syrupy and sticky on the lips and then a little dry with very fizzy carbonation and a metallic, very dry and lightly astringent finish.

Quite nice indeed, though rather doubt it was worth the $7 for a bomber. (I’m not sure any but a very select few beers are worth $7 a bomber given my marginal utility scake). Basically it’s an Imperial Black IPA, which means you expect something like Stone Sublime with a more sticky, sweet and thick quality. Here it wasn’t so much sticky as it was silky, and not all that thick. A pretty tasty semi-sweet treat. This black-IPA thing is really a nice recent style innovation.

ON draught at the Alchemy: Two REALLY nice imp ipas in one night. they both had their pluses and minuses. This one was just a bit sweeter in taste so I probably liked the conductor a little more. A dark semi murky reddish amber colour wit a full beige head. Nose as some soft fruits, a bit of spice and fresh hops floating through. Flavours are generous of hops as one would expect them to be. Plenty of prune, caramel and raisin notes underlying the taste. Noticeable spice and bready malt come through also. Awesome beer from Southern Tier.

Bottle shared with Angeloregon... Poured near black with amber highlights and a thing, light tan head. Floral, yeasty, malty aroma with a touch of hops. This was more sweet and malty than hoppy. It had a lot of baked bread like tones and sweet, boozy notes. Very solid and complex, with just a touch of hops for accent rather than bitterness.

Bottle, pours a red-hued, black body with a thin tan head. Nice mix of floral and grapefruit hops on the aroma with hints of citrus and dark fruit. Flavor is more of the same with a dark, roasted malt flavor and cocoa. Medium body; smooth mouthfeel with a light carbonation. Slightly sweet on the finish with some hop bite.

22 oz. bottle from Ludlow Wines. I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, glad to finally get around to it. Pours a dark brown color, pretty much opaque, with a small tan head that leaves a rim of bubbles. Aroma of sweet malts, caramel, chocolate, dark fruits, brown sugar, licorice, hops, and alcohol. The flavor is well balanced, between notes of all of the above, roasty, sweet, and smooth. The mouthfeel is syrupy and a little chewy. Sweet, smooth, with well-masked alcohol. Another nice Imperial offering from Southern Tier- different than the rest, although most fall under the American Strong Ale classification.

not much hoppiness here. sweet and malty. almost like a porter. black/brown in color. cheeks warm up as you drink. Great black ale, only so-so ipa

Bottle shared by glid02 at the Brick Store. Pours a deep, clear copper with a very small creamy beige head that hangs around as a swirl for a while and leaves no lacing. The aroma is fairly hop forward with some oranges and pineapples up front which is balanced a bit by some dark roasted malts, though the hops are the main attraction in the nose. There is a bit of sweet caramel and some chocolate as well. The taste seems to be slightly less hoppy, but the citrus hops are still the most dominant feature of the beer. There are some dark malts in the background, but they seem sweeter than I was expecting with very little roasted character. There is some chocolate in there though. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied and very smooth with the hops sticking to the tongue after each sip. This is an extremely good and very unique beer. It’s definitely more on the IPA side of things with the hops showing out, but the sweetness of the malts and chocolate make for an intriguing and very drinkable mix. The alcohol is completely unnoticeable.