Today I wanted to talk about my favorite style of beer, the Black IPA. "Black" isn’t the key word here. I am talking about any India Pale Ale brewed with darker malts. These malts give this beer a dark brown to pitch black appearance in a glass. Typically a brewer then uses American hops to really give the beer life. I enjoy this style mainly because it’s different, but also the fact that you almost get the best of two styles of
beer. 

A nicely done Black IPA pours a dark color in the glass. This alone makes you think the beer you're about to drink is going to be heavy. When you move in and take a whiff you then get a whole different sense; most are so hopped up that you smell a lot of pine needles and citrus with a hint of chocolate and malt on the back. 

The first sip ignites your sense the same way. The first wave of taste is the maltiness, typically not to overwhelming, then the hops take over. This style of beer is very light--it doesn’t have a big mouthfeel you would expect from its dark character, and the finish is nice and dry like a typical IPA.

I first fell in love with this style when I ran across Widmer Brothers Pitch Black. This was my first and probably still is my favorite example of this style. This is a perfect example of how some malts and hops can coexist to make such a great beer. Terrapin Hop Karma is another great example of this style; this beer pours a nice brown color, with a nice malt profile with a great amount of hops on the end that any hop head would love. Tommy Knocker Hop Strike is a nice example but more on the other side of the equation. In this beer, everything was correct but a little too much malt taste for what I am looking for--still a great beer though.

Kevin Vercrouse, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Beer Consultant

Follow him on Twitter @abcbeerkevinv