Trying a different beer style tonight that I have not tried before. I am looking forward to trying this beer tonight. I am usually not a fan of the hoppy brews, but I figured the beer I am drinking tonight had a combination of styles. The more and more, I looked into this beer, I found that the beer was an India Pale Ale brewed with dark malts. I am a malt fan so I figured, I would give this beer a chance and see what this style had to offer. I am trying an ale from 21st Amendment Brewery, they are located in San Francisco, California. 21st Amendment Brewery has a unique name because of the history that is tied to the 21st Amendment. During the 1920's prohibition wiped out most breweries and forced brewers to brew illegally. With the creation of the 21st Amendment, brewery's reclaimed their status and became parts of their communities again. Reestablishing their part of the community where people came together. Similar to today where breweries are meeting places for people to connect and enjoy good beers. 21st Amendment Brewery was founded in 2000 near historic South Park.
Back in Black
The 21st Amendment Brewery ale that I am trying tonight is Back in Black. Back in Black is an Black American India Pale Ale. I love the description from the brewery on this style of beer. "Inspired by Paul Revere's midnight ride, we rebelled against the British style IPA, embraced the more aggressive American version and the recast it in bold, brave, defiant black. Our Black IPA is a Declaration of Independence from the tyranny of expected." Looking at all their beers they have a piece of United States history attached to most of them. Back in Black has an alcohol by volume or ABV of 6.8% and an IBU of 65.
Appearance of Back in Black
Time to dive into the appearance and the aroma of Back in Black. Taking a whiff of this beer all I notice is the hop forward aroma. After taking trying to pull out some more aromas, I noticed the faint presence of a malt aroma from the dark malts used. The beer poured creamy almost like a stout, but the aroma begs to differ. The foam or head of the beer is creamy, yet it laces the outside of the glass like an IPA would. The appearance of this IPA is different from most, but that is because the brewery used dark malts instead of pale malts like most IPA's use. Back in Black has black appearance to is but it's not thick black like a stout, this beer shows it's pale side in the lack of thick black color.
Taste is where I am not looking forward to with this beer tonight. I think that the hoppy aroma is going to be matched in the taste notes of this ale and I am not a big bitter fan. I hope the dark malts are present in the taste as well, because that is more my style. Time to see what this black IPA has in store for me. When taking my first sip, I got a balanced dark malt and bitter hop note. I actually was shocked that the brew was as bitter as I thought it would be. I think the dark malts have something to do with that and helped cut down the bitter note. The black IPA has a medium body and has a lingering dark note on the tongue. Taking more sips of the ale, I began to pick up on a subtle chocolate note that was buried behind the dark malt notes and the bitter hop notes. Back in Black features the use of Columbus and Centennial hops in the beer, if you were curious.
Check out Back in Black by 21st Amendment Brewery
All in all I think that Back in Black is a good brew, that surprised me in the end. Sometimes the aroma can be misleading and you should always wait to judgement on a beer until you taste it. Almost like judging a book by its cover, judging a beer by it's aroma is the same. If you are not a bitter fan and do not like IPA, I think you can still enjoy this beer. If you enjoy IPA's and hoppy beers this beer is something that you should try. In fact, I think that this black IPA does a great job of combining two notes of malt forward and hop forward styles. I will have to look out for more black IPA's in the future and check them out.
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