Brewdog: Pressure Drop: Syd Strong’s (England: Black IPA: 7.1 % ABV)
Visual: Black. Inch of tight bubbled brown froth.
Nose: Rye spice. Pineapple. Brown bread. Paprika. Resin and white grapes. Elderberry.
Body: Gooseberry jam. Dried beef. Smoke. Rye spice. Vanilla. Malt chocolate. Nicely bitter.
Finish: Bitter hops and charring. malt drinks. Dried beef. Light vanilla toffee.
Conclusion: This is a dangerously easy going 7.1% ABV, and a pretty good Black IPA along with that. I wonder if the two elements are linked? It has got a smooth texture, with a nicely rising bitterness against softening jamminess that brings a dose of hop fruitiness with it. Despite the big flavours within the beer just slides down. Admittedly it is no Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, but then again what is?
Apart from Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, obviously.
The rye influence is subtle, adding a light spiciness to an already big beer, but it is more used to accentuate rather than dominate the beer. Which I approve. Big rye fans may disagree, but I feel the lighter touch works well here, it never disrupts the smoothness of texture, just gives a bit of extra pep and kick.
The main body, behind the weight, is actually quite restrained. There is chocolate, which is a great base to work from, but such is the weight of the other flavours that it is never more than a background note. Still well done when you see it.
Overall, while not the best, this is a very solid entry in the BIPA range, and has its own style in what can oft be a field of closely linked high end clones of each other.
A welcome brew.
Background: A Black Rye IPA and beer number, erm, 14 I think in Collabfest 2014. This was the last beer of day two as I was taking it quite easy by this point. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beer.
