Beachwood Hop Vader

Brewed by Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
Style: Black IPA
Long Beach, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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On tap @ Beachwood BBQ. Squid ink pour...one of the blackest black IPA’s I’ve encountered. Piney, resinous, citrusy with a mild roast. Still not as bright as others in the style.

Very good black IPA at fathers office in LA. Just enough hops to be dangerous. Yum yum!

Tap. I really liked all the IPAs I tried from Beachwood, although the flavor profiles were very similar and it got a bit monotonous. Pours deep clear chestnut, medium tan head, great lacing. Aroma is light with notes of grapefruit, citrus, pine, roasted malts. Flavor is the same, very light roasty notes, light sweet, medium bitter. Medium body, oily mouthfeel.

Black color with tan sheen. Kona bud, spicy hop, dark malt aromas. medium body. Nice hoppy pine, floral, dank hop flavors with a chocolate malty base --good

Comes in my glass nearly black. Aroma hits with some serious weed up front, followed by a spicy hop character and some light cocoa and roasted malt. Flavor is hoppy but is well balanced by a great touch of dark malts. Really good for this style.

Sampled on tap at Toronado San Diego; July 2012
Arrives with a red tinged, concentrated amber to dark brown color. The head is a ¼-finger thick, nicely brown tinged, dark tan colored head. The aroma is pungently and expressively hoppy; herbal in its dankness, with a huge citrus and tropical fruit character, but also having a biting pine character to it. Specific aromas of definite, dank, “hemp” oil, pairs with a huge tropical fruit character that leans towards lychee, guava, kumquat zest, and super ripe tangelo, as well as a very expressive, floral peach character. The dark malt is quite subtle at first, it perhaps accentuates the dank hopiness that is here, but at this point I am quite enjoying how subtle it is, as it can usually clash with the hop character. The hop aromatics are just so complex; woody, tobacco, peppery, basil-laden, and just down right green notes join the previously mentioned hop notes.

Bitingly bitter up front, it only gets more scathing with a sharp, herbal and pine like astringency that graps the palate and attempts to shake it into submission. The beer is fairly dry, and the dark malt only serves to dry it out even further in the finish. The combination of the raw hop character and the astringent leaning, roast malt character provide a profound drying effect and bite to the finish. The roast malt character is subtle, or really it more accentuates the dank hop character; still it contributes flavors of bitter roasted grain, touches of full city roasted coffee, and a wholesome, deeply toasted, whole-grain character to the flavor. The beer is quite dry and light bodied, much of this is accentuated by the sharp hop and roast malt character, but this is dangerously quaffable, assuming you can get past the scathing hop attack; in reality this last, makes this beer a bit of a contemplative beer, though that might be quite a bit too peaceful of an adjective for those that don’t cravenly yearn for excessive hops. The hop fruit character is here as well, it is not nearly as expressive as it is in the nose, but still contributes flavors of lychee, Meyer Lemon zest, kumquat, and roasted Curacao orange zest.

The aroma of this beer is just incredibly fantastic for those that like a nice balance, though scathing in its totality, between hop notes of fruit, pine and herbaceous character. The flavor is no slouch either, but it is more dominated by the herbaceous, dank hop character, but the other notes are quite noticeable as well. This is such a hop dominated beer that the “black” part of it is almost an afterthought; the roast malt does serve to sharpen, some might say harshen, up the flavor, but I could see many a person missing it if they were blindfolded. Having said that the dark malt does contribute actual roast flavors to this beer, you just have to dig a little beneath the hop onslaught. In the end, this is the type of hop focused IPA that I could just smell forever.

On tap at Beachwood (and several other places). Pours with a near black hued (deep brown) body with a lasting and retentive tan head. Aromas are lightly of roast, molasses, earthy, floral. Big citrus, dank, hoppy, dark fruits and tangerines. Flavors are a touch more bitter than usual, low roast, citrus, pine, grassy, tangerine pith, lightly dank, low esters with a bitter balance. Lively bubbles, dry, roasty, medium alcohol and medium bodied.

Pours a dark black with a big hop aroma. Tastes like a regular IPA to me. No roast or malt notes until the end. Another solid bitter beer from Julian Shrago.

I had this on tap at Beachwood Seal Beach. Nice black pour with a good balance of malt and roast flavors.

From tap at Bruery Provisions. Pours hazy dark brown to black with a small tan head. Aroma is solid hoppy fruity, toasted malty and citrusy. Bitter, grapefruity and solid hoppy, light peachy and mango. Bitter an smooth fruity into the finish.