Black IPA; not quite the malt profile of a stout, not quite the clean hop profile of an IPA. Sounds a bit shit, and mostly they are, but for some reason people drink them, so here we are, staring at you until you buy one.
I jest of course, we do love the combination of darkness with pine, resin, citrus and a firm bitterness. The flavour combo is challenging but insanely moorish when done well. Black IPAs are a fantastic style, where the malt profile should be low, without the intense roasted flavours that you would see in an American Stout, but with a high hop aroma and flavour.
When we landed on Black IPA as the style with collabrewtory mates @bracketbrewing, Mike recommended using Sinamar. This is a malt extracted colour additive made by the boffins at Weyermann. Encouraged to a solution by the German Purity Law, Weyermann extract the black colour from their Carafa Series. So it’s an all malt derivative that German breweries are able employ. It’s also a perfect solution to get colour without roast in a Black IPA.
So we made the beer as you normally would, with a few good wishes and a bucket full of dreams, and added the Sinamar in Bright. I reluctantly have to concede, it’s pretty genius. The low malt body really allows the hop profile to shine, tasting just like a solid Westie. There is some cognitive dissonance from the visual and olfactory inputs, leading to that Heston Blumenthal moment of wtf is this.
Try it first at Dark and the Wicked next weekend. Book tickets directly with Luke on 0411 111 111111.
Adjunct
