Review: Identity Crisis (Black IPA)

For 3 of my 4 Spring-time brewing seasons now, I have made a Black IPA  After last year's I had to do one again this year..  I like them low on roast and high on hops, especially with a big resin and pine component with lots of fruit layered in.  Chinook and Simcoe work great and a nice addition of Mosaic plays well in there too.  I have tossed Blisk into a 2L of my APA without any hop presence and it was great, so I thought it would work wonderful in this IPA and boy was I right.  Tropical, reisn, pine, and I believe it to be the touch of Maui Onion I am picking up as it warms.

Look:

Pours a beautiful dark brown/black with a huge, dense khaki head that stays forever, leaving thick lace rings all the way down the glass.  Super clear with dark ruby/brown highlights.

Aroma:

Massive blast of hops jump out of the glass, big citrus burst, grapefruit peel, followed by lychee fruit, pine needles, floral notes, resin, dank, peach, and blueberry.  So many layers, lots of fruits and wood.  Maui onion.

Flavor:

Hints of chocolate, followed by blueberry, pine, toasty malt, nutty yeast, grapefruit pith, tangerines, and mangoes.  There is a finishing note that is off, not bad or infected off, just off.  Kind of flabby finish, not crisp and clean.  A little sweaty.  Bitterness in the finish that I would like to see more of, not as strong as I'd like which seems to be the difficulty I have with IPAs.

Mouthfeel:

Medium/light body, medium carbonation, semi-dry finish, balanced bitterness (needs more).  Wondering if the flabby finish is a pH issue.

Overall:

Huge hop explosion out of the glass, complex hop notes, lots of fruits, pine, resiny hops, touch of sweet onion.  Flavor and feel are great, only issues are the lower bitterness and flabby finish flavor.  Need to get that bitterness cranked up.  I have wondered for a few batches now whether I might need to adjust the pH down a couple nothces in the finish.  If I add a drop of Lactic acid to the glass the finish is less flabby, but still not as crisp.  Possibly needs even more sulfate and magnesium?

RECIPES: #57 Hop Hedonist (IPA) & #58 Identity Crisis (Black IPA)

No matter how hard I try to get away from it, I can't escape that reality that I am a Hop Head.  The aromatics of tropical fruits, pine, citrus rinds, resins, they are just so alluring.  With a pulling bitterness in the finish and a mild malt backing to support the hops, an IPA is truly a thing of beauty.  Yes, there are many out there who hate bitter beer, but maybe it is because I am from the North West, I gotta have them hops.  And it had been too long with out them.  I blew my keg of Autumn IPA a month ago and have been fiending for the hops ever since.  I bought some Dale's Pale Ale, Hopothermia, and Palate Wrecker and it just isn't cutting it.  Finally I got a chance to brew up 2 IPAs.  

Review: Identity Crisis

My view on Black IPA is not a secret... it is not a hoppy stout, it is exactly what the name says... an IPA that is black in color, that's it!  No charcoal, no rich chocolate, no heavy roast, no smoke, no ash, just pure IPA with a mild dark character that is barely noticeable.  If you drink it blind, you would never know that the beer was black.  And that is what I brewed, spot on.

Look:

Pours a dark black with ruby hints, off white head that hits thick  and stays to the end, super sticky with great lacing all the way through.

Aroma:

Smells like blueberries.  Touch of spice, pine cones, resiny hops, light chocolate, grapefruit, mild fruitiness.  The hops are big and bold, but I would still like them to present a lot more (like the regular IPA).  Touch of malt in the background.

Flavor:

Pine and resin lead the flavor, followed by a hint of mildly smooth char.  Biscuity, mild fruits, light grapefruit.  Mild malt presence in the back, hops lead through to the end.

Mouthfeel:

Medium body gives way to a dry, bitter, but not bracingly, finish.  Great balance.

Overall:

Too drinkable.  Heavy hops on the resin and pine side with a touch of fruitiness.  Balanced bitterness.  Hit almost exactly where I wanted it to.  Light malt, mild dark malt, heavy on the hops in pine and resin, with a touch of fruit.  The hop aroma is a tad light for the amount of hops and level of dry hopping on this beer; its very noticeable, but I would like it to have a little more hop pop.

Recipes: Identity Crisis II (Black IPA) & 2nd Place - Homie's Hop Sock (IPA)

Every so often (more often then I would like to admit) I get an itch, an IPA itch.  Nothing can scratch this itch except a hop bomb.  Unfortunately many of the commercial IPAs I have been buying just don't cut it, some are just old (one hop bomb was simply caramel in the nose and flavor).  I even got a Black IPA from a local brewery that was brewed and kegged only days before I got my growler fill, and it just didn't work.  I haven't brewed an IPA in a long time, my 3 Fresh Hop beers were great but just didn't have the hop punch I was hoping for, and the Gumballhead Clone I brewed was quite hoppy but the 1/2 gallon of StarSan impacted the final pH making the finish on the beer difficult to drink.