Black Oak Ten Bitter Years

Brewed by Black Oak Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Etobicoke, Canada

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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On cask. Appearance: golden cloudy orange with a small white head. Aroma: glorious hops, just a hop sensation. Lots of bitterness and citrus. Delicious. Flavour: bitter goodness, raw hops, lemons, tart. Fantastic. This is what Ontario has been craving. Well done.

Cask at Volo. Pours cloudy brownish gold with moderate white head, decent retention. Big, fresh hoppy nose with grapefruit, citrus, floral and a nice malt balance to boot. Taste is also very hoppy but again well-balanced. Nice lingering bitterness. Liked this a lot.

On tap at Volo
Appearance: hazed amber, copper-brown , light fizzy top shown.
Nose: sweet ,soft , clean presentation, candi like aromas with soft wet hop presence.
Flavor/Palate : full bodied , quiet sweet , berry like , sugary character , hint of woody feel , drop of raspberry with hop topping. Bold and not entirely balanced.

Cask. At Volo. Rating #4000 (in my heart, this was/is 4K - shut up!). Cloudy orange with a solid frothy off-white head. Aroma - fantastic - lush tropical fruit, pine, citrus and floral bitterness, lemon zest, alcohol - quite dry, too. The taste was very bitter, increasingly so, primarily tangerine and tangerine zest, dry resin, moderately strong alcohol - with a solid juicy sweet malt backbone - just solid, solid stuff. Nice soft cask mouthfeel, decently astringent and acidic, but not obnoxiously so, very well-balanced, but a long, long light-riding grapefruit finish and linger - doesn’t jam up the palate like many IPAs, but it hangs around forever. Fantastic stuff, best DIPA EVER in Ontario - please, please, PLEASE keep making this, Ken!!

2009-11-29. Hazy dark amber body, modest lightly foamy white head and lace. 3+ Flavour has a lovely bitterness throughout, citrus melange, light leafy green hops in the finish. Bitterness grows as the glass goes on. Citrus starts to let the leafy green hops take the lead a bit more. Aroma is pleasant. Interesting blend of leafy green hops and modest citrus blend. Smooth average plus to medium bodied palate is excellent for a cask, but a touch under carbonated. 3+ Really quite good. Congrats on 10 years guys, I hope we don’t wait another 10 to see this beer again! On cask at Volo, Toronto

Enjoyed on-tap at Rhino’s. This beer is the rage, and a rare DIPA in the Ontario market, worth the try. Pours cloudy grapefruit with sitting pretty white crowning head, and a sheet of lace. Hop aromas. The taste is big bitter, with malting to tame it somewhat. A DIPA all the way, and alcohol is well hidden. Full mouthfeel.

This was dropping nearly clear last night (Sunday) two days after tapped. Almost dark slightly foggy orange, beautiful dense look. Really smells of a lot of fresh, gorgeous hops, and taste follows - sweet orange and grapefruit rinds with an initially peachy and slightly floral aftertaste. After a few sips the bitterness accrues forming a dense layered resiny-citrus wall of complex hop flavors set against a solid malt and alcohol backbone (both nicely in balance.) Some intense fresh green hop flavors. A little big to session but let’s hope the brewers continue in this "West Coast" direction,and achieve the renown Black Oak deserves. So fresh and yet powerful. Amazing.

UPDATED: FEB 9, 2010 Rerate: Cask at Volo. I have to rerate this as my previous rating wasn’t a proper sampling of this beer, it hadn’t settled yet. It’s now currently my favourite Ontario beer. Smells great, lots of resiny, citrusy, fruity hops. Juicy, fruity, hoppy flavour -- simply delicious. An easy-drinking (especially considering the totally hidden abv), awesome DIPA.
Original rating: 9.3.7.3.15: 3.7
Draught at Rhino. Pours a murky...what? No idea what colour that is, kind of like pea soup with a long-lasting creamy off-white head. Aroma is awesome, lots and lots of hops: spicy, citrus, hemp and more -- so potent, I kept smelling it over and over. Flavour is very bitter, like grapefruit. Long bitter finish. Alcohol’s pretty well hidden. A bit hard to drink really, way too much sludge, it shouldn’t be this murky. Thick body. I really liked this but I wouldn’t want more then one pint of it -- still, kudos to Black Oak for such an interesting beer!

UPDATED: NOV 15, 2009 On tap at The Rhino - came a HAZY orangey golden with a super thick 2-inch white head that didn’t go anywhere. This beer glows. You can see little hop leaves floating and it’s so thick they don’t settle. Aroma is incredibly fresh, so beatifully citrusy and fruity, and reminiscent of West Coast IPAs that we don’t get around these parts. To have it unfiltered, fresh, on tap, was a thing of beauty. Flavour is incredibly complex, fruity, candy sweet upfront that fades into a lingering bitterness. Alcohol supremely well-integrated - never a noticeable burn, but the effect creeps up on you. Sticky, resinous mouthfeel, swept clean by perfect carbonation level. Lips get sticky. Layers of complexity in this one, sweet, fruity, acidic, bitter, grassy. A beautiful beer, and the best I’ve had from this province. BRA-F’N-VO Black Oak! Here’s to 10 more bitter years...