Many have written about a supposed new beer style. It is black in color, has a somewhat malty sweet body with notes of caramel, toasted or roasted malt, and it is hopped to the teeth with citrusy and piney hops from the American pacific northwest. I've seen at least three different names attached to it: Cascadian Dark Ale, Black IPA, and (the worst of the lot in my opinion) India Black Ale.
So the first question that comes to mind for me is do we really need yet another beer style classification? There are already 23 styles (most having 3-5 sub-styles) in the
Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines. Is this beer so unique and, more importantly, so well defined as to call for a new category? Personally, I think not. However, that is really only the formality side of the question left to those obsessed with categorizing beers. I really don't want to get hung up on that, this type of beer intrigues me. If I'm going to throw my hat in for a name, the only one I think is suitable is Cascadian Black Ale. These beers taste nothing like an IPA and as Matt Van Wyk of Oregon's Oakshire Brewing stated in a very politically correct way in his article "
Cascadian Dark Ale: A Rose By Any Other Name" at
CraftBeer.com, "Using the term "black" and "pale" in the beer name is awfully confusing to the consumer." No, I would call it more along the lines of moronic and far worse is associating "India" with this beer at all. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the true, historical India Pale Ale. If you want that real definition I encourage you to read Martyn Cornell's excellent "
Amber, Gold & Black: The History of Britain's Great Beers". Sure, it's hoppy but that really is where it ends. I think Matt did a great job summing his arguments for what the beer is all about. I encourage you to
read it.
In the last couple of weeks I have tried four commercial interpretations of this beer, call it what you will. Of the four, there is really only one that I personally would deem as a definitive example (I'll get to that in a minute). Starting at the bottom of the list of ones I have tried sits, somewhat surprisingly to me, Widmer Brothers
Pitch Black IPA. I say surprisingly because I've really enjoyed most of the Widmer beers I've had. There is nothing wrong with this beer at all, let me state that right out. I just think of all the ones I tried it has the least amount of the characters that I anticipated and is, in my opinion, the most commercially acceptable version. It is black, it is somewhat hoppy, but the toasty/roasty malt flavor is very subdued and the hops are not as assertive as most of the others. Don't let me discourage you from trying it, like I said, it is a good beer in its own right and very drinkable. It is brewed with Pale Malt, Caramel Malt, Carapils, Special Roast, and Carafa Special II and hopped with Alchemy and Cascade. The quoted IBUs are 65 and it is 6.5% ABV.
Next on the list of ones I tried is Stone Brewing's
Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. Like all Stone beers, this one is dominated by hops and this is my problem with it. The hops overwhelm nearly everything in the beer with respect to flavor and aroma. The hops are very citrusy and smell of freshly mowed grass and subdue any aromas of malt. There is an underlying flavor of malty sweetness with notes of caramel, coffee and dark chocolate but hops are still at the forefront. It finishes very dry with a strong bitter aftertaste of dark roasted malt. The company's website doesn't list the grist bill for the beer but the hops are given as Chinook, Simcoe and Amarillo with a stated bitterness level of 90 IBUs and a strength of 8.7% ABV.
Second to best of the beers I've tried so far is from a homebrewer from Illinois, Rodney Kibzey, one of the three winners of the 2010
Samuel Adams Longshot contest for his
Blackened Hops. Being a homebrewer myself for nearly 15 years, I'm always glad to see another gain recognition. The website doesn't give any statistics on Rodney's beer (or any of the other previous winners for that matter) which I find very annoying and somewhat inconsiderate. It does clock in at 7.0% ABV. I'd say this one is the sweetest and most malt driven of the lot by far. The hop level really only serves to keep the maltiness from being overwhelming. I guess in this respect, the beer actually falls quite short in matching the hop characteristics expected by this new style. It is, however, a very enjoyable beer to drink and has loads of caramel, toffee, and subtle chocolate notes.
The best beer in the lineup and the one I think will be hard to top should I try any more interpretations of this style can be summed up with the phrase 'I never met a
Deschutes beer I didn't like.' Deschutes Brewery's
Hop In The Dark is classified by the brewery as a Cascadian Dark Ale. This beer is incredibly complex with loads of maltiness, caramel, and roasted malt notes coming through. It is heavily hopped but not to the level that it subdues the malty, toasty, and roasty character of the beer. If the style calls for the citrusy and piney character of northwest hops, this beer more than delivers. Frustratingly, the brewery's website leads one on with a homebrew link but the page only lists the malts and hops used in the beer with no mention of mash temperatures, hopping levels or any meaningful instructions for a homebrewer. It does, however, list the malt bill as having Pale Malt, Flaked Oats, Munich Malt, Dark Crystal Malt, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Wheat Malt (never heard of that one), Black Barley, Toasted Oats, and Dark Candy Sugar. Now that's a complex malt bill! The hops are given as Northern Brewer, Nugget, Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade and Citra. My guess is they use Northern Brewer and Nugget for the main bittering hops and the remaining for that northwest hop flavor and aroma. It is 6.5% ABV and has a quoted hop bitterness of 70 IBUs. I really encourage you to try this beer if you can find some. Note that it is a seasonal beer for Deschutes so if you see it get it while you can.
I do find this 'style' very intriguing but I'm still on the fence (mostly on the opposite side) as to whether it is really a new beer style classification. It really is worth trying all of these beers and I, myself, will continue to seek out further interpretations of this very American of beers.
Yours Aye!
Neil
