According to Harpoon's website:
We have enjoyed brewing and drinking
beers brewed in the IPA style for a long time. Our flagship Harpoon IPA
and our Leviathan Imperial IPA are two of our favorites. We thought it
was about time to take a crack at the Black IPA style.
Harpoon
brewer Matt DeLuca took over the brewhouse for our 40th 100 Barrel
Series offering. A newly released specialty malt from Briess called
Midnight Wheat gives this beer an almost stout-like appearance without
the overly roasty attributes often associated with traditional dark
malts. Flaked barley is also used in the malt bill for head retention.
An intense yet diverse hop addition schedule is executed during the boil
that results in a well balanced offering.
On top
of the Chinook, Simcoe, Cascade, and Citra hops is an ample addition of
Ahtanum hops that provides a fruity aroma to complement the earthy,
spicy bitterness of this dark ale.
IBUs: 67
ABV: 7.0%
Week 7 – Harpoon’s Black IPA
ReplyDeleteC- Dark brown almost the color of molasses. It has a minimal head, but what is there is a dirty white.
A- The nose has a nice grapfruity aroma
MF- Good carbonation
Taste- The front end of the beer starts with a fair amount of hop flavors. It finishes with a bit of malty sweetness.
Overall- This is a fine black ipa. It lacks some of the roasted notes that make an excellent black ipa. In that way, it falls into the category of black ipa’s that are black because of their color and not as much based on flavor. If you gave me this on a blind taste test, I would not necessary think it was a black ipa. That said, I would still consider it to be a perfectly acceptable ipa. In our little mini-tour of black ipa’s over the last 3 weeks, I would consider this one a solid second, which is a fine place to be when one of the other beers is Otter Creek’s black ipa.
Pours almost black with touches of red around the edges. A creamy tan head sticks around for a minute.
ReplyDeletePine hop aroma comes through strong as would be expected from a Pacific NW IPA or Cascadian Dark. Some minor roasted malt aroma notes are present.
Solid mouth feel, with good body, most likely from the addition of the midnight wheat. The pine forest hop profile dominates with the roasted malt flavors rounding out the taste. This beer is definitely balanced on the IPA side rather than the roasted Black side. This is a very good version of a Black IPA, I enjoy the hops with the rounded out roast flavors, where neither overpowers the other.
Overall: very tasty, not my favorite but its on the short list of top contenders.
Enjoy