Free State C4 Imperial Black IPA

Brewed by Free State Brewing Company
Style: Black IPA
Lawrence, Kansas USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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GABF 2011 - smells freaking awesome - lovely integration of dry, intensely bitter, piney hops and bitter black malts - the flavor is much the same - dry, woody hop bitterness and dry cocoa and woodsmoke - green, piney and citric hops are showcased well - lingering, intense hop spiciness - balanced despite it’s intensity - more please.

Cask at Great Taste. Pours a murky brown black with minimal head. Nose is big hops. Fresh citrus and resin dominate with some light caramel as well. On tasting, balanced bitterness dried out further by the roasted grains. Citrus and pine tar are there, as is a strong caramel presence. Pretty decent beer

Sampled on draft at GTMW 2011. Pours a clear copper color with a thin creamy head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of peppery and herbal hops with toffeeish malts. The taste is citrus and earthy hops and caramel. Medium bodied with a lingering bitterness. Medium bodied. Nice.

Sampled at St. Louis Microfest 2011 - Cask version - pours mahogany brown with an off-white head. The aroma has non-bitter dark malt along with funky hops and some grapefruit. Medium smooth body with soft carbonation. The flavor starts like the aroma and has very smooth chocolatey malt with green onion, funk and spicy hops. A really nice beer.

From a growler filled 12 days previous. I realize this is way too long to wait to drink a growler, but thought I would rate with the caveat stated right up front. The pour is a hazed brown ruby with a minimal light khaki head. Aroma is fresh pine hops, along with some pleasant dark toasted malt. Mostly about the hops, which are clean and fresh. Bright nose. Taste is resinous pine hops right up front, followed by a lightly char roasted malted and finishing with a chalky grain earthiness which was nice, and quite dry. Nice integration and development of flavors. The palate is really the only place where it seems obvious the beer has been sitting a growler - medium to light bodied, low carbonation level - though with the great clean fresh grainy dry finish, it was hardly noticed. I am pretty hit or miss with this style, but really liked Free State’s take on it.

Cask at St. Louis Microfest 2011. Pours a cloudy dark brown color with almost no head or visible carbonation. Aroma of pine, grapefruit peel, roasted malts, toast, grass, earth, brown sugar, and floral notes. Flavor of orange and grapefruit citrus peel, earth, toasted malts, pine, leaves, faint coffee, and wood. Light-medium bodied, with low carbonation (cask) and a citrusy, earthy, mildly toasty mouthfeel. Very nice black IPA.

From growler. Intriguing aroma, with roasty, lightly sweet malts combined with massive hop notes, lending pine, earth, citrus, florals and their own considerable sweetness. Clear dark brown in color, with a subsiding head (again, this is from growler) of whitish tan. Flavor profile is powerfully hoppy throughout, with strong pine and citrus, but quite a lot of bright, floral sweetness as well, the malt very much in a supporting role here even as dark as it is, and hop bitterness bringing up the close in convincing fashion, blending nicely with the lingering, faint chocolate and roasty malt tones. Oily, resinous, slick and smooth on the palate, body is medium-full. Easy to drink, and to enjoy.

I am glad I got to try this on tap @ Angler’s in Lawrence. My expectations were low going in but I was blown away. The color of the beer is pretty damn black, khaki head. Aroma is straight up floral-sweet hop candy. I let my dad smell that beer and even he was blown away and he despises hop-centric beers. However, this is very floral and sweet in a novel and non-traditional hoppy aroma. Of course, the flavor my dad did not enjoy because there is a bigger hit of traditional hops with some of those elements in the aroma rounding it off. There is just a little hint of dark roasted malts that seem to fit nicely. I don’t get an impression that this is an IPA that was turned dark (as a fad) but more like a well constructed hop-centric beer that happens to have dark malts. Very easy to drink and love to smell it.

10oz pour. Intense pine, dank bud, orange, grapefruit. Taste is citrus, pine and dank. Nice bitterness. Dark red color bordering on black.