Blue Hills Black Hops

Brewed by Blue Hills Brewery
Style: Black IPA
Canton, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

(22oz bomber) Courtesy of Cyn and Kat. Pours a beautiful off white lasting head atop a near opaque brown black body. Nose is muddy with smoke. The flavor travels deeper with a tinniness, roasty malt, and coffee grounds. Decent beer. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

12 oz Bottle poured at Real Ales for Hope - Providence, RI. The first of a handful of my first Blue Hills brews. Billing this as a Black IPA was unfortunate mistake, because there wasn’t much Black nor IPA about it. Aroma gave a light toasty malt and some metallic hop action. Flavor proved this to be a decently constructed brown ale with some strange zingy-electric hop flavors and bitterness. Out of balance and not nearly hoppy enough.

Pours a dark black color with a brown head. Smells a bit souring with some hops. Taste is slightly sour. Weird black Ipa.

Disappointing. Way to sour, not a black IPA at all. I hope it was just a bad batch.

Appearance: pours clear polished obsidian black. A bubbly khaki head leaves an equally bubbly thin head in its wake. A few swirls doesn’t shake its bubbly collar or head.
Nose: pumpernickel toast and dark fruits – plums, raisins, prunes. Faint generic evergreen forest esters. Fresh mint leaves meets chocolate and milk chocolate bars. Pine cones.
Palate: fresh mint chocolate – like Andes Mints with decadent luxurious chocolates with fresh pine needles and pine cones. Parching finish – pumpernickel toast and acorns. Raisins in the finish. Milk chocolate coats the top like a silky river of temptation while mint teases underneath in and the middle is everything else. Grows a peppery dried ancho chili is a subtle accent to the pervasive burnt goodness.
Final Thoughts: as for Black Hops specifically - good but certainly not to style. On the flip side, if one were to judge beers by labels alone, one might find Blue Hills to be a cheap knock-off, but the few that my Love and I found and tasted while in Massachusetts were yummy. No regrets, only tasty savorance.

This is an awful interpretation of a black ipa, I’m not sure if the head brewer has ever had this style before, but it’s closer to an english bitter than a black ipa, this is not black, no roasted malts, no big hoppy flavor. This is a miss unfortunately.

22oz bottle in a shaker. Pours black with a thick, light beige head. Aroma of roasted malts and light hops. This has to be a bad bottle. I don’t think the malts and hops could clash enough to give it this flavor. Has potential.

22 oz bottle purchased from Blanchard’s Liquors, Allston, MA for $4.75. Served in a Shaker glass. Dark black, with ¼ inch white head, light retention. Nose of malt and citrus hops. Taste has good amount of malt with citrus hops and a light sourness in the finish. Dry with a touch of resin. Body is real thin. Too thin, watery. It’s ok, on the lower end of the style. (of the ones I’ve sampled)

Thanks to Ginny for bringing this back to Pittsburgh from her vacation. Dark pour, decent brown head that fads, not much lacing. I like the dark IPA’s, this one is rather light, but not necessarily in a bad way. Taste has a bit of roasted burnt malts, I wish this flavor was stronger in this beer, than, it would be an excellent brew. But, the mild spice/malt taste, makes this one okay. Good hop flavor, also I’m detecting some hints of chocolate, and again, just wish the nutty flavor would take over. Not a bad beer overall. I’m glad cheapdark like this one!

Big dark pour, thanks to nike! I got yopu a couple of samples too! Very nice fresh beer aroma, no hint of IPA rudeness lurking in the olfactory. Bitter of coarse but not much more dark tasting than any other mild IPA. Yes, bitter IPA with brown food coloring. Wait, I think I taste some maltiness in ther, could there? First seems nearly flat but that grows on you to be some kindah creamy thing on the tongue. Wew, can’t seems to dodge that old pine tar feel. I shouldah had nike around to finish this once I had 4 oz, heheh. No, seriously, I drank the whole thing and LIKED IT! Glad to gave had the chance to try another IPA based beer. To be fair, there is a slight dark beer attitude on the shadow as the session moves on. Another cool rocken beer from Mr B!