On tap at Rattle N Hum, intense tan-headed mahogany-bodied hybrid relies much more heavily on rich coffee-beaned dark chocolate roast than contrasting pale ale fruiting. Creamy cocoa-dried chocolate and vanilla malting finally allows serene orange-grapefruit bittering and modest guava-mango combo to flourish towards the nutty mocha finish. Not far removed from an Imperial Stout.
Dreary dried fruited pungency and bland black rye breading receive resinous pine-hopped spicing. Ruby red grapefruit, pineapple and tangerine illusions flutter by cocoa-dried anise stickiness to no avail. Tertiary chocolate liqueur, cola nut, caramel nougat and Baker’s chocolate undertones fail to properly register.
Velvety smooth fireside sipper picks up piney molasses sapping over soft hop roast, wavered chocolate liqueur spell, dry-roasted coffee resin and wet-grained wort-like aromatics. Busy backdrop gathers dark chocolate chalking, black grape tannins, astringent nuttiness and fudgy vanilla. Arguably South Carolina’s best dark ale.
Updated version of Alpine Black IPA given year-round permanence in 2011. Darkly roasted mocha malting deepens blackened hop char and usurps dark-fruited aspect. Caramel-burnt maple pining enhances midrange grapefruit-pineapple tease as well as tertiary black grape, raisin and fig nuances.
Effective collaboration with Hunger Mountain Coop truly exemplifies dichotomous IPA/stout merger. Sweet chocolate-covered cherry frontage picks up piney hop-charred bittering as tan head diminishes. Black cherry, black grape, pineapple and grapefruit crowd Cordial-liquored vigor above dark-roasted caramel malting. Heavy cocoa powdering reinforces mocha side. Ashen wood splurge deepens bitter conviction.
Adequate so-called ‘schwartz’ with limited floral IPA niceties labeled brewers’ darkest signature beer. Smoked mocha malting picks up vanilla, toffee and dark-roasted coffee leanings. Pine resin, anise and currant mildly embitter brown chocolate center. A bit unassertive and less robust than richer Cascadian Dark Ales, but viable for smoked porter-stout fans.
Convincing mocha-centered hop goblin (with grain bill akin to German schwarzbier) deepens blackened molasses malting and brown-breaded dark chocolate roast with toasted hop char. Hesitant piney grapefruit bittering and resinous nuttiness reinforce smooth mocha creaminess. Coffee-roasted espresso backdrop and distant dark-fruited sedation fill out medium-full-bodied Cascadian Dark.
Celebrating 2011’s 14th anniversary of respected Bay Area brewer, IPA-like hop-charred citric bittering outweighs Cascadian Dark Ale-like oats-flaked mocha nuttiness for stylistic Black IPA. Piney grapefruit-peeled expectancy picks up resinous walnut, black coffee, black currant, black licorice and Blackstrap molasses illusions along the way, coating the lingered black tar aftertaste.
Respectable collaborative adjunct ale honors home state Springsteen sax legend, Clarence Clemons, with a winning 8.5% alcohol blend every bit as heavy, rounded, dark and sweet as the ‘Big Man’ himself. Creamy brown chocolate richness, maple-sapped rye graining and oats-sugared cookie dough opulence commingle with less opulent IPA-like bruised fruiting. Raisin-pureed blackberry, cherry and grape undertones graze against hop-charred peat dewiness. Ancillary port, noir and burgundy wining and recessive ashen cocoa powdering fill out backend of thrillingly vigorous full body better labeled a stout.
Fine Black IPA, re-branded as Black Horn, brings expectant hop-toasted pine-sapped dried fruiting to rich chocolate-roasted caramel malts. Amplified coffee bean kick, ashen wood-charred sear and lofty grapefruit peel afterburner thicken overall bitterness.
Compelling Black India Pale Ale (aged with vanilla beans) invites stupendous coffee-roasted vanilla creaminess to enhance nutty hop-charred bittering and oats-bound chocolate roast, relegating expectant IPA-like dried fruiting to auxiliary role. Minor cocoa spree adds to mocha-laden tendencies.
