I am currently drinking one of the best Black IPA’s I’ve had and it’s a home brew.
Yes, really.
Black Black Black! Like The Clouds Of Death That Follow Me Into The Forest Of Doom And Hide In The Wardrobe Of Darkness!, to give the beer its full title, is an absolutely superb bottle of beer.
It pours a deep purple brown with a little cappuccino head and smells of plums and liquorice.
The malting is big and round and chewy, absolutely heaving with treacle tart, honey, waffles and peanut brittle, and there’s a good fruitiness too, plums and damsons giving a juicy meaty background hum that’s tempered by woody black coffee.
You also find liquorice root and just a hint of beef stock before the hops slap you with orange marmalade and lots of green herbal leaves.
All this makes for a very satisfying beer with a delightfully dry rich and bitter finish.
Source: Brewchap