Magic Hat Demo

Brewed by Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Black IPA
South Burlington, Vermont USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a Pint glass. ("3/4 Pint of Ale" as they say on the label.) The label has a freshness date of "May 31 2011" and the abv is listed at 6%. Appearance: It has a very dark look in the glass with some very deep dark garnet colored highlights showing through the beer. I also noticed some fine sediment hanging in suspension within the body. To cap off this beer I got a dense tan head which stands two fingers tall. This head has excellent retention and coats the glass with lacing. Smell: I get a dark roasted malt character with hints of coffee and caramel. Hops are lighter than the malt and add some citrus and herbal notes to the nose. Taste/Palate: The palate opens up with mild sweetness, roasted malt, coffee and toasted bread with citrus hop notes quickly moving in. It finishes with pleasant herbal/leafy hop bitterness fading slowly off the tongue. It has a creamy and smooth mouth feel with pleasant soft carbonation. Notes: It come off more as a Porter than IPA but is still very tasty and beautiful.

Appearance is a small brown head with black color. Aroma is a sweet roasted malt. Taste is plenty of coffee and chocolate with some bitterness. Overall very good.

Mörkt, mörkt brun med beige skum. Fina välrostade toner av milt kaffe, choklad, toffee, torkad mörk frukt, söt tobak, aningen rök, citrusmarmelad, ja listan kan göras lång. Mycket fin doft. Smaken är lite enkelspårigare, men rund och lätt, fruktig, sötlarits, inte särskilt besk, snarare lite aska i eftersmaken. En riktigt finstämt humlad porter.

Bottle. Pours a black body with a tan head. Aromatically malty and hoppy. Viney hop tones, light grass y tones, and roasted malt tones. Aromatically okay, seems like everyone has a black ipa now and why not its a very exciting style, actually magic had pulled it off quite well. Personally i’d rather go with an OC alpine ipa but not bad. Body thins out quite a bit, also this one seems to have a stronger chocolaty malty body, meaning the hops are a bit dimmer then some of the other examples i’ve had. Regardless it works and is very good.

Bottle. Creamy off-white good mostly lasting head. Dark red-amber colour. Heavy malty and moderate hoppy aroma. Heavy bitter strange but nice flavor. Chocolate and smoked notes. Long heavy bitter finish. Creamy palate.

sixer from Specs .. holy shit, this stuff is actually good! .. . pours a deep brown .. medium lacing with a great big bubbled head .. . roasty tar and slick bitter oil, light mouthfeel .. . fantastic black ipa .. . . should i have this much blood in my pocket?

Poured from bottle- one of their sample packs. Aroma of hops, malt and burnt caramel. Pours solid black with coarse tan head. I taste grassy/grapefruit hops, roasted malt, smoke, molasses, maybe coffee too. Porter-ish feel. Nicely drinkable. Good finish. Great beer.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from Demo, mixed reviews on RB.com have a divided camps on rating this Black IPA. My palate was well satisfied, roasted malts, dark brown full bodied citrus with favors all in sync. Demo went well with Red Leciester cheese and looked great in my newest glass, a German Sigel Kloster Wiezen-Biere glass.

bottle. black pour with small off-white head. aroma of large grain, oats, bitter cocoa powder, grassy hops and light pine. quite nice. very earthy, grainy flavor billing. moderate to heavy roasted malt accompanies the earthy hop bitterness quite well. this is a winner from a brewery that doesnt have one...

Bottle, yo. Black with a fizzy tan head. Chocolate, roasted grain, and light citrus aroma and taste with a roasty finish. Not bad.