Hopworks Secession Cascadian Dark Ale

Brewed by Hopworks Urban Brewery
Style: Black IPA
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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bottle from belmont station. pours a dark brown small tan head. aroma of pine, citrus hops, light cocoa. flavor is roasted malts, chocolate, cocoa. hop forward but has a nice dose of roast and chocolate. awesome balance of roast and piney hops. clean, well made. becoming big fan of this style

Bottle thanks to olympuszymurgus!Transparent dark brown, red highlights. Dank mint, earthy nose of light flour. Flavor is more malt up front, light green bitterness and pine with something that reminds me of cat litter. Very salty, piney earth finish. Light profile throughout, nothing dominates the other elements, but then again there isn’t much here.

Pours not really black but more dark brown with ruby edges. Aroma of burnt malt, hops. taste is nice, it has a lot of bitterness, some hop related, some burnt or ash flavor. Medium body, lots of carbonation but it’s not prickly.

Pint at brewpub. Pours darn black. It’s basically the same shade as their stout. Delightfully hoppy aroma on this one. Plenty of grapefruit and dank herbs make this smell super nice. Hops transfer well to the flavor. Grapefruit flavors clash well with chocolaty malts. Great American style ale.

650ml brown bottle. As "Cascadian Dark Ale". Pours dark brown with deep orange amber highlights. Compact clingy tan head. Dense lacing. Reding hoppy nose, pine notes, citrus. Flavor has biscuity chocolate malt up front backed by with grapefruit and grass hop notes. Finishes with chocolate and lingering grassy, leafy bitterness. Medium body, soft and even carbonation profile, quite a mild smooth mouthfeel. Solid CDA.

First off, the name really doesn’t work for me. Cola colored. Has a bit of an oil smell. Perhaps too much of one type of hops? Hoppy and bready mixture.

Putting this up head to head with a bottle of Fish Tale Swordfish. The colour is pretty dark with some red hues, plenty of ultra light brown bubbly head and some messy lacing. The aroma is an immediate mix of two things: fresh yet subdued hops and coffee grinds. Sadly I was really disappointed with this much coffee stuff. Fragrant and pungent, orange and roast, resin, light light chocolate. Ok, I gave up on this and drank the last 400ml of the Fish Tale Swordfish - there is no comparing these beers. Swordfish is hugely hopped and has zero coffee which for me is awesome. Now, the match up isn’t actually a fair battle as these beers are quite different in their make up but, hey, if you just want to look at how much I enjoyed the two, this beer would never be bought again. That is not to say that this beer sucks - it’s good but not as good.... at all. Wow. my dick is going to split in half like a boiled hot dog if I don’t hit up the can. HUB’s got some good flavours though - fruity stuff, lots of roasted malts, coffee dullness, big hard bitter finish. I wonder what the real goal of this style is... maybe this is a truer version and the Swordfish was just tastefully hopped. The last pour gave a great compact light stout head equal in compactness to the Swordfish. I think now that I only have this beer left it is getting better than it was. The coffee has faded and the hops are taking over... which is not what I would have expected.. then again, it’s colder now and yea, eya, that makes sense. Who cares? Now I’m enjoying this immensely. And I’m slurring my thought and I have a massive batch of popcorn coming up and I have the 3rd period of the LA/SJ game to finish on PVR with the 2006 Oilers/ Canes final to watch on replay. There is 1% less in this beer vs it’s competitor. I don’t recall what I typed already and I’m not going to reread it as I’m spending way to much time retyping most of my words. MOre pine and some spice and bite on this one. Finishes feeling thick in spots and thinner in others. A solid mean bitterness with a defined coffee malt aftertaste lingers like unwanted relatives drinking your liquor. I can smell the oil, that means time to add the popcorn and time to assume that I won’t go to bed until well after 1:30. I won’t buy this again as there are better options. The difference between the 4.1 Swordfish and the 3.3 here are firstly in enjoyment and secondly in bluntness.I wonder how long this review is?

pours a black with a ruby tint and a small tan head. smell is of hops, roasted malt, pine, a slight organic funk, and a little floral. taste is tangy, bitter, hoppy, malt in the back, and a touch of caramel. ends smooth and bitter.

UPDATED: FEB 7, 2011 4 oz. Taste @ Portland, Oregon Spring Beer & Wine Fest April 3rd, 2010. 6.5% ABV. 70 IBU’s. Roasted hoppy aromatic front. Crisp toasted dry malt body. Rich balanced hop spice end. (4.0 / 5.0) Hopworks Urban Brewery--HUB--Secession Cascadian Dark Ale Sustainable Organic Beer--2011 22 oz. Bottles. 6.50% ABV. 70 IBU’s. (3.75 / 5.0) Clear pour. Medium mild lace rocky tan white head. Opaque dark black color. No ruby edge. Lightly burnt mildly aromatic hop front. Crisp fully fermented dry sweet toasty unbittered dark malt mild hop pine resin body. Mellow bitter earthy crusty cloying resin mild citrus clean end with hint of lingering dark malt roastiness. Confusing flavors. Tastes Pale not Black. Tasty crisp & smooth. Tasted 2/4/2011. Purchased for $5.99 @ The Ballard Market on 1/21/2011.

22 oz bomber from "Lifesource" Salem. $4.95 Screen printed label..in the colours of the "Doug Fir" flag of the Republic of Cascadia. Mahogany dark brown ale with a nice thick creamy tan head. Great herbal,citric and pine tones from the hops in the aroma,hint of coffee from the malts. Surprising taste..very balanced but at the same time wildly swinging from the piney hops to the dark chocolate,toasted malts..then balanced again. Great mouthfeel very captivating..and a very tasty bitter after taste that lingers..like good dark esspresso coffee. Over all a very nice CDA