DuClaw Double Black Lightning

Brewed by DuClaw Brewing Company
Style: Black IPA
Abingdon, Maryland USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Bomber from lukin013. Thanks! Pours a very dark brown color with a pencil thin head on top. The aroma, at first at least, shows some citrus that I didn’t expect. That’s followed by chocolate, caramel, and toast. No citrus whatsoever in the flavor and as I go in for another whiff, it’s gone from there too. Lots of roasty burnt malt, resinous hops, and toffee flavors. There’s some soft chocolate that lurks but gets buried beneath the bitterness from the hops and a rather hefty malt bill. It’s a little rough and gritty, but that’s the Black IPA, and overall this is a solid beer.

22 oz. bottle. A deep mahogany pour with a smallish khaki head. A nicely balanced aroma of cocoa, caramel, chocolate, roasted coffee, grapefruits, and citrus rinds. Medium-bodied and fairly smooth on the way down. Lots of caramel and cocoa upfront taste-wise. A big burnt graininess and some vanilla extract in the middle. A fair amount of bitter coffee, black chocolate, and citrus towards the end. A drying finish that lingers a bit. Hints of warming alcohol throughout.

Thin brown head from a pretty vigorous pour. Bit of hops in the aroma. Seabreeze, sweet malts, a light bit of sourness and some wet oak. Color is a very dark brown. Lots of roasted grains, dark bitter chocolate, some mild coffee and a bit of vanilla bean. Little weak in the hops presence and bitterness. Decent lingering bitterness with a little bit of grapefruit pith. An ok black IPA.

22 fl oz bottle. Pours dark brown to dark amber with a small tan head. Aroma is toasted dark malty, vanilla and toffee malt. Roasted and slight breadish. Dark malty and toasted. Thick malty and vanilla. Ends dark malty and toasted toffee malty finish.

Bottle from fear025 as bonus. Black pour with tan head that faded quickly. Aroma is sweet cream and subtle roast. Taste is burnt malts and very sweet with faint hops and a subtle oak finish. More along the lines of a stout IMO.

Bomber from The Perfect Pour, Elkridge, MD. I’ve not had the reg BL, but I found this one a bit of a lackluster BIPA. Nice pour, mildly chalky dark brown and a boisterous head. Nose fairly typical for the style, with bright fruits and roasts in appropriate balance. But something about the taste seemed very under-developed, with perhaps an excess of molasses and char. Decently dank and resinous finish but I wasn’t a huge fan.

Bomber shared by Butters at the 17th Richmond Ratebeer Gathering, 1/28/12. Pours a clear dark reddish brown color with a thin creamy tan head. Decent head retention. Aroma of big chocolate notes, peppery hops, roasted malts and nutty notes. The taste is bitter herbal and vegetal hops, roasted malts and caramel. Medium-full bodied. Decent.

Richmond 17th. Aroma is roasty, a little stout like. Flavor is a match, faint hops on the finish. Mostly a light bit of citrus. Not bad, not great.

Sampled at the Richmond 17th Gathering. Dark brown pour with small ring of tan head. Chocolate and alcohol nose. Sweet cocoa flavor is immediately overpowered by intensely bitter foresty hop earthiness. Good carbonation.

22 ounce thanks to Elwood. Big black body and very upfront coffee. Body thin - IPA after all. Not too hop forward, but not a super fresh bottle either. Still, bitterness is there and strong.