Category Archives: IPA

St Austell Ales – Proper Black IPA

Black IPA, Cornwall, IPA, St Austell, Strong Ale, UK, , , , ,

St Austell Ales – Proper Black IPA 6%

This is a black strong ale, with a deep fresh hop aroma.
It has a dry strongly hopped taste, with hints of black coffee and a lasting hop bitterness.This is a strongly hopped IPA and becomes another of the growing number of Black IPA beers.
 
Another member of the Proper Job, Big Job range of IPAs from the Cornish St Austell Ales.

Beavertown – 8 Ball Rye IPA

Alcohol Free, Beavertown Brewery, Craft Beer, IPA, London, Rye, UK, , , ,

Beavertown Brewery – 8 Ball Rye IPA 6.2% 

This is an amber coloured ale with grapefruit and tropical fruit notes of mango. The ale has a malt and citrus grapefruit taste with a warming background.
Beavertown – 8Ball Rye IPA can

This is an  unpasteurised, unfiltered, natural beer.

This bee is brewed with  American and Southern Hemisphere hops with rue malt giving a spicy taste with a lot of dry hopping.

Cornish Crown Brewery – Red IPA

APA, Cornish Crown Brewery, Cornwall, Craft Beer, IPA, UK, , , ,

Cornish Crown Brewery – Red IPA 5.9%

Cornish Crown Brewery - Cornish Red IPA
Cornish Crown Brewery – Cornish Red IPA

Good things in food and drink come from Cornwall, but also some unusual things, as in the case of this IPA.

The ale has a pale red colour, with rich hoppy aromas. It has  passion fruit taste, with a malt sweetness The initial taste is followed by a  citrus grapefruit bitterness, typical of the use of new American hops. The hops impart the tropical fruit and citrus bitterness, typical of the American and British craft beer sector and the American Pale Ale style.

Cornish Crown Brewery is a small batch craft brewery based near Penzance, Cornwall.

Harbour Brewing – Light Ale

APA, Cornwall, Craft Beer, Harbour Brewing, IPA, Summer Ale, UK, , , , ,

Harbour Brewing – Light Ale 3.7%

Harbour Brewing - Light Ale
Harbour Brewing – Light Ale

This is a pale golden ale with a grapefruit aroma. It has the grapefruit bitter taste, predominant from the use of American Hops, with peach notes.

An interesting summer ale from Cornwall if you like the APA craft beers.
Harbour Brewing is based in Trekillick, Kirland, close to the town of Bodmin.

Gyle 59 Brewery – Dark and Bitter Black

Black IPA, Craft Beer, Dorset, Gyle 59, IPA, Real Ale, UK, , , ,

Gyle 59 Brewery – Dark and Bitter Black IPA 5.8%

Gyle 59 Brewery - Dark and Bitter
Gyle 59 Brewery – Dark and Bitter

This ale is brewed in Dorset. It is a dark ruby coloured ale with deceptive sweet malt and plum aromas. It has a roasted coffee taste from the dark roasted malts used, with a strong hop and grapefruit bitter follow on. A very dry bitterness in taste like an Irish black stout but with the thinner texture of bittered IPAs.

Overall this was an ale that confuses the mind and pallet, leading the drinker to expect the taste and texture of a black stout, whilst giving the pallet of an IPA.
This ale is produced by Gyle 59 Brewery, Thorncombe, Dorset. The brewery is log powered and uses its own spring water, producing natural ales.

Additionally the Brewery runs a cellar bar in nearby Lyme Regis –

Cellar 59 – The Natural Beer House

a visit to which will be planned.

Anchor Brewing Company – Liberty Ale

Anchor Brewing, APA, Craft Beer, IPA, My 5* Rating, Real Ale, Summer Ale, USA, , ,

Anchor Brewing Company – Liberty Ale 5.9%

Anchor Brewing - Liberty Ale
Anchor Brewing – Liberty Ale

This is a golden amber ale with a fresh off the bine hop aroma, with hints of vanilla. It is has a pleasant malt and orange warming taste with a fruit sharpness and a good hop bitter background, without overpowering bitterness.

Brewed with Cascade hops and also dry hoped with Cascade. This is a really good ale of a European style from the U.S. west coast San Francisco. My 5*
According to the brewery Liberty Ale® was first brewed to celebrate the bicentennial of Paul Revere’s historic ride (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem), he alerted the American forces of the British approach before the battles of Lexington and Concord .
It was the first modern American IPA brewed after prohibition and the first modern American single-hop and dry-hopped ale, which started the American Craft Beer brewing.

Hopshackle Brewery – Double Momentum

Autumn Ale, Hopshackle Brewery, IPA, Lincolnshire, Real Ale, Strong Ale, UK, , , , ,

Hopshackle Brewery – Double Momentum 7.0%

Hopshackle Brewery - Double Momentum
Hopshackle Brewery – Double Momentum

This is an amber coloured ale with a strong malt and dried hop aroma. It has a strong malt taste with a heavy resinous hop bitterness. A strong IPA rather than a barley wine type that may be expected at this strength.

This ale is based on a historic 18th century recipe.
The Hopshackle Brewery is based in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire have originated from The Saracens Head in Cambridge via Cox’s Yard Inn in Stratford on Avon and the brewing equipment was built by the engineers at Charles Wells, Eagle Brewery in Bedford.

Spun Gold

Bitter, IPA, Real Ale, Somerset, Twisted Oak Brewery, UK, ,

Twisted Oak Brewery – Spun Gold 4.5%

Twisted Oak Brewery – Spun Gold
This is a golden ale with the aroma of a German Weiss bier. It’s taste starts clean and sharp with Weiss bier notes and a strong citrus bitter finish and a hint of the spice found in Belgian White beer.

A good ale if you favour some of the newer IPAs based on American hop varieties that are on offer. It also has a strong reminder of German wheat beers both in the aroma and taste. Another good offering from this small Somerset Brewer based at Wrington on the Mendips.

Weird Beard Brewing Company – Fade To Black IPA

Craft Beer, IPA, London, Real Ale, UK, Weird Beard Brew Company, , ,

Weird Beard Brew Company – Fade To Black IPA 6.5%

Weird Beard – Fade To Black IPA

This is a truly black ale with a creamy brown head and an mm aroma of dark roasted malts and freshly picked hops.
It’s taste is an initial sweetness moving very swiftly into a strong hop bitterness of an IPA  type. 
 
 
As the brewery taste notes say “A black IPA sounds wrong but tastes so right!”
It does in fact have a bitterness from the hops, which is not the same as a dry black stout which would have bitterness from the roasted black malts. Both the initial aroma notes and the initial sweetness are expected from a traditional dark ale, then both the aroma and the taste move swiftly to that expected from a good India Pale Ale.
Fade To Black – Top