Comments on: My 2 Cents On W ’10

By: Jared

Jared — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:05:51 +0000

You going to mix in some normal IPA’s into the blind tasting?? That would make things interesting.

One I tried was Dogzilla from the bottle, but I can’t recall the other one at the moment.

By: Samurai Artist

Samurai Artist — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:59:08 +0000

I am a fan of the style to varying degrees. Some brewers are just getting the hang of it. Most brewers have just experimented with one. I would encourage you to give it a chance.
I am curious which ones you have had? I think Deschutes and Widmer have done some really great ones as clearly they spend lots of time doing test batches and tasting panels. In fact I just got back from a Widmer media event with a dinner focused around the W’10 and it was clear they put a lot of work into it.
I have had probably more than 10 varieties. The Hopworks Secession is coming out soon and it was created by one of the pioneers of the style Abe Goldman-Armstrong and it is a great example. I also think Walking Man’s is phenomenal. Sorry to plug my own blog but I will be doing a more in depth article about the style and a blind tasting of atleast 6 different kinds next week.
Ezra

By: jbx

jbx — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:06:49 +0000

ditto Beercentric’s comment.

I have had several Cascadian Dark Ales; next time I have one I will refer to your review.

Not entirely germane, but, not completely out-of-flock with the topic:

Widmer Bros. is one of 3 Oregon craft beer brands available in SW Fla. Widmer Bros.’ Amber and Pale Ale and Hefeweizen are available at beer emporiums. What I found noteworthy was, the local Widmer is brewed at the Redhook Brewery near Portsmouth, NH, via the Craft Brewers Alliance.

? Not so strange ? Consider this, three varieties of Kona Brewing Co., Kailua – Kona, Hawaii, are also brewed in Newington, New Hampshire.

Make perfect sense for cost and carbon footprint.

By: Jared

Jared — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:10:18 +0000

I think this beer proved to me that the style wasn’t all gimicks, but until breweries are willing to step away from the novelty of a dark IPA and start worrying about harmonizing the flavors it will be hard to sell me on it.

I can see the validity in what your saying about balancing a the sweet heaviness of a northwest IPA with dark grains. The fact is thught that these flavors need to blend. This one was to disjointed to me. I got the distinct hops flavor, followed by what I’d consider a cheap stout or porter taste (heavy on roasted grain, but not much else goin) and a nice malt finish. Blend those three elements and step back a bit on the roasted taste and I think this beer would truly have been brilliant.

By: Capital Taps

Capital Taps — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:15:31 +0000

I’m looking forward to more of these beers. Oakshire Conundrum Black fresh hop ale was my favorite of 4 or 5 fresh hop ales I tried this year. Sometimes I find balancing hops with malt goes too sweet & cloying in IPAs. I wonder if by dialing up the roastiness, but dialing back the sweetness, it might be possible to find a better balance of hops and malt, especially where the focus is on aromatic hopping (especially citrus and floral profiles) rather than piney/resiny bitterness. I’m hopeful black ales will become a drier style of IPA/PA (though no longer “pale” of course!).

In any event, they seem far less gimmicky to me than a lot of what passes as “innovation” in brewing these days. I think this is a legitimate and interesting experiment – it may well peter out, but I say give it time and room for an honest fail.

(As for analogues in other domains – what about grilled seafood or vegetables? – like a grilled scallop or tomato, a hint of char on the outside and luscious creaminess inside. The hints of roasty char don’t need to be heavy-handed and can complement the other, lighter elements. I think developing this style could lead to a new elegance in hoppy west coast beers.)

By: Beercentric

Beercentric — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:40:51 +0000

Nice review!