3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Bottle shared at CBC - Clerkenwell, London - this one I brought. Pours rich brown with a fine, tan cream head. The aroma is impressively mellow, with only some light, tangy dark malts and suggestions of spicy pine. Light to medium sweet flavor with burnt pine, burnt toast, faint plastic. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Bitter earth finish, more burnt toast, some licorice, more burnt sugars. Meh, pretty underwhelming. I have to wonder if my bottle wasn’t in top form (it wasn’t old, though) as this beer seems to be pretty well liked by most raters.
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle from Coppers, Newcastle. A black beer with a thin quickly disappearing white head. There are notes of chocolate, vanilla, orange and grapefruit with creamy coffee notes on the finish.
2.9 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Bottle. Thanks to seth for the pour! The nose is roasted root vegetable, some charred malt. Chocolate. Faint aromas. The taste is soft charred malt, some chocolate. Mildly bitter finish. Light body, prickly carbonation. Overall, this is a little underwhelming, muted. Just OK.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottled, 500ml from West Country Ales, Cheddar, Somerset. Black with cream head. There is an initial charred malt flavour, some liquorice, some chocolate. There is a slight sweetness to it and then a light, flowery hop note, but just a little restrained. Nice balance and good drinking. Pretty decent.
4.2 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle from Cotteridge Wines, Brum. The Bish has it absolutely spot on: the beauty of this beer is the softness. It still has flavour; roast, sweetness, hops but its so easy to swig. Very well done.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle from Cotteridge Wines; still on a BIPA quest might be in double figures soon, pours dark black frothy off white head, strong malt aroma, taste is bitter coffee/chocolate, slight hop notes but not enough for the IPA strapline, I got slight 20pence with a hint of Ł2 pound coin.
4.1 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle from AP Harvey Wines, Coventry. Black with a thick beige cap. Dribble-making nose equal parts ashtray, burnt Ribena (?), plastic, cranberry, red delicious apple. Lightly dusted, well done, chocolatey, tropical flavour kind of like a barbecued red apple, blackcurrant, blueberry and melon kebab sprinkled with cocoa. Really lip-smacking fresh hop fruitiness, soft tropical notes and blueberry. Chocolate mousse and pistachio finish. Ticks all the Black IPA boxes for me. Maybe it is a real style after all.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Smooth tasting black ipa which is nice to drink with nice bitter edge but a bit short on flavor hops. Good body. Nice toasty malt with residual sweetness which matches hops nicely.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle. Black with a small head. Chocolate and coffee blend together to produce a complex and pleasing taste.Some hops are also present. Definitely different.
2.6 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
500ml bottle Cotteridge Wines B30. This tastes to me like porter. I have never understood Black IPA as a seperate category when its description is the same as porter. This is a gently flavoured beer - a fairly standard porter. The bottle label states ’a generous amount of new world hops’. I would describe this beer as being moderately hopped in terms of bitterness and flavour. An apt description would be: ’well balanced flavour between dark malts and hops’.
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