Black Top - Bottom’s Up

Happy Hop Day!  Today we're looking at a new beer style (or sub-style) for me.  One of the beers that I received for my birthday was a New Glarus Brewing Company Black Top Black IPA.  When I poured it, I noticed immediately why it was called a “black IPA” - it had the color of a porter or a stout.  As I poured, it formed a nice head which faded slowly, leaving a thick lace on the glass.

The scent was very subtle, but it reminded me a little of fruit cake, except less spicy.  My first thought when I took a sip was that the mouth feel was very clean.  My first impression was that it was like drinking a glass of water, the way that it washed all over my mouth and then kept moving.  Normally this isn’t something that I like in beer, but I paid more attention to it with my second sip and realized that my first impression hadn’t been accurate.  There was a solid, front-to-back softness that carried with it the thickness of the malt and the tanginess of the hops, but initially, they’re hidden by a crisp, smooth, fresh feeling that is deceptively clean.  After that passed, I noticed the more pleasant mouth feel that I expect from a good beer, lingering the longest toward the front of the roof of my mouth and leaving my tongue puckering with expectation for another sip.

The flavor was very well balanced between malt and hops.  At least for an IPA, I thought it was very balanced.  The hops were a bit stronger, but there was a very distinct roasted coffee flavor that I found to be the predominant flavor.  In slow motion the flavor went:  crisp, sweet, sour, bitter, roasty and coffee - with the coffee notes lingering along with tanginess from the hops.  The aftertaste was predominantly that roasted malt flavor supported by a sweet hoppiness. 

As far as IPAs go, this wasn’t what I normally consider a standard IPA because of how much of an influence the malt had, but the impact of the hops was exactly what I look for in an IPA.  Now, although I prefer hoppy and bitter beers, I am a huge fan of stouts and porters (stouts being the first beer I drank regularly, they will always hold a special place in my heart).  This beer combined the best of both worlds.

I easily give this beer a five star rating.  I love it.  I’ve had beers that I like more than this one, but I like it a lot, and it brought such a balance and strength to the flavors, all flavors that I love, that I can’t help but give it a five.

The description on the bottle is right “Expect this beer to pour a hop forward jet black glass brimming with aromatic bitterness.”  It goes on to say “Brewmaster Dan skillfully weaves molasses and chocolate malt undertones with a soaring rush of clean citrus and pine hop notes.”

Molasses?  Yes, I can see that

Chocolate?  No, but maybe I don’t have enough experience with chocolate malt to pick it out

Clean citrus hop notes?  Definitely

Pine hop notes?  Hmm.  I had to think about it while drinking this, but yes, I definitely detected the Pine hop notes. 

I love this beer!

While drinking the beer, I read the bottle.  It said, “We invite you to discover this newest beer style Black IPA.  Political debate rages over the origins of this jet black beer as both coasts feel they deserve credit.”

What?  A new style?  Both coasts claiming it as theirs?  So this is a new American Hybrid?  I figured I had to know more.

BeerAdvocate refers to this style as the American Black Ale:  “Also referred to as a Black IPA (India Pale Ale) or Cascadian Dark Ale, ales of this style range from dark brown to pitch black and showcase malty and light to moderate roasty notes and are often quite hoppy generally with the use of American hops.”

Ratebeer describes it as “An emerging beer style roughly defined as a beer with IPA-level hopping, relatively high alcohol and a distinct toasty dark malt character. Typically lacks the roastiness and body of a strong stout and is hoppier than a strong porter. Expressive dry-hopping is common. Also called India Dark Ale, India Black Ale, Cascadian Dark Ale, Dark IPA, and sometimes India Brown Ale.”

BeerScribe provides a nice introduction and description of the Black IPA in a short blog post that I suggest you read:  http://www.beerscribe.com/2010/09/01/the-black-ipa-problem/

If you love hops and enjoy malt, I definitely recommend New Glarus’ Black Top.  If you are a fan of one, but not the other, then I encourage you to give it a try and post a comment here to let me know what you think.

Sprecher Brewery Tour

Yesterday, Amanda and I did the Sprecher Brewery tour with her aunt and cousin.

The tour was fairly short and very fun. Extremely affordable at $4.00 per person ($2.00 for minors, $3.00 for seniors and FREE with a Military ID - gotta love a company that respects those that serve). It was 3 stops and then their indoor beer garden. Sprecher makes 8 types of gourmet soda as well as beer, and in the beer garden, minors can drink as much soda as they want (Well, anyone can). And visitors 21 and older get an 8 ounce glass - which you get to keep - to sample up to 4 of the beers they have on tap - unless you look "receptive" to the other guests. At the start of the tour everyone over 21 is handed 4 beer tickets. While we were drinking after the tour a nice couple next to us gave us all 8 of their beer tickets because they were only drinking the soda. Then another gentleman who told us we looked "receptive" gave us four more. And then another wonderful older gentlemen gave us 2 more! It just kept getting better.

The only unfortunate thing was that we stayed past last call and didn't get a chance to use all of the tickets - which I suppose my brain and liver are thankful for. We could have used them all, but I was enjoying looking and smelling and sipping my beers and didn't want to start chugging them just to keep the tickets from going to waste.



Although not all of their beers were on tap, they had more than we tried. What I found to be fantastic was the selection of beers they had on tap. I've had the Black Bavarian a couple of times and I believe the Special Amber once, they were far surpassed by some of Sprecher's other beers that I've never had. I'm not saying the Black Bavarian and Special Amber are bad - not at all - but I had beers that I'd never seen before and they were amazing. It makes me wonder how little I've really looked at Sprecher beers before. Now, I suppose that part of the reason may be that Sprecher is better known for their root beer than their beer (in fact, they produce and sell more root beer than all of their beer combined). Nonetheless, I'll be keeping an eye out Sprecher when I'm out on a beer run.



So the following are the beers that I had and what I thought of them:

IPA²
I loved this beer. LOVED it. It was my favorite of all the ones I tried. For an IPA it was very sweet but not too sweet. It had a mild floral/fruity scent mixed with a nice tangy-hoppy smell. It had a nice medium amber color and a light mild head. I don't mind sweet beers at all, but I think I lean to bitter beers a bit more. But this was a great combination of the two.

Abbey Triple
It was good, but not my style. It had a light pale color with a mild flavor. It had a slightly sweet maltiness and a finish that I can only compare to a slight biscuity flavor. It also had an element to it that I find in Carlsberg that reminds me of childhood and makes me think of my father.

Germanfest
This beer is brewed specifically for Germanfest here in Milwaukee. It was light like a common macrowbrew but with more flavor and a nice hoppiness. It was too light for my taste, but I liked it better than MGD or Bud Light.

Pipers Scotch-Style Ale
It had a creamy, light tan head and an orange-red-brown color. It was very mild, with an almost imperceptible floral scent. It was sweet and smokey - not bitter at all. Despite my preference for bitter, I really liked this beer - with some reservations. I would not drink more than one at any given time, and if I were to drink it again, I want to be eating meat and/or cheese. It would go well with a nice gouda, a pulled pork sandwich and a kielbasa. I think it's because the smokiness was stronger than I would normally want in a beer, but not enough to keep me from coming back to drink it again. I think this would also probably make a fantastic marinade base for beef, pork or chicken. I'd also like to try using it for stew and in homemade BBQ sauce.

Belgian Dubble
This had the unfortunate role as my final beer before we had to clear out, so I didn't give it nearly same the attention as my other beers. It was good. Not much head. Sweet and savory with a hint of bitter and a clean bready finish. I want to try it again to get a better idea of what I think of it.

One that I didn't get to try for myself was their Russian Imperial Stout. Marsha (my wife's aunt) had one before the keg ran out, but I didn't. I had a sip of hers, but that's all I got because after it ran dry, they replaced it with their Hefe Weiss. From the sip I had I think I may really like it, but I'd like to give it a real try.

Afterward, Amanda suggested we all go to the Old German Beer Hall for giant soft pretzels and a couple more beers. She really has the best ideas.

Needless to say, I absolutely want to go back to the Sprecher Brewery, but I think that next time I'll go for one of their Reserve Tastings. They are done in smaller groups than the regular tour, and feature premier and limited edition items. You get ten samples paired with cheese, and it only costs $15.00 per person. I'd willingly pay that price. It still includes the glass you can keep and the tour.

Some Beers Do Not Go Well Together

I was doing some chores around the house earlier today and decided to Try the Lakefront IPA. It's a new beer to me, and I loved it. It has a clear citrus flavor along with the wonderful hoppiness of a good IPA. This tart/bitter was nice while I was getting stuff done.

I needed lunch, so I made myself a nice smoked salmon sandwich and decided that it might go well with an amber, so I grabbed one of the Capital Brewery Wisconsin Ambers I've got. It was too close to the last sip of Lakefront IPA and the Capital Amber just tasted bad. So I set it in the fridge and am drinking some water to clear my palate before I keep drinking it.

Although I've had Capital Brewery beers that I enjoyed, I'm beginning to think that their amber might not be for me. I occasionally like to have an Amber, but they aren't my first pick. I'm finding that there are more times that I go to grab a beer and think that the flavor of the Capital Amber just isn't what I'm looking for. I might have one or two left, and if I do, I think I'm going to retire them to the status of cooking beers.