So Hot right now

One phrase comes to mind when I think of the “Black IPA.” That of course would be SO Hot right now. But don’t think this forefront style of beer as a trend that will be whist away.

The newest style to hit the craft brew industry has some heavy hitters even getting in on the fight. With Big west coast breweries like Rogue, with its Mogul Madness and Stone Brewing’s genre-defining Sublimely Self Righteous Ale (SSRA). I will be the first to admit that this isn’t just a new gimmick to create yet another category of beer but done correctly, I've found the black IPA to be a richer and more roasty malt experience than the regular IPAs, without sacrificing the hop bitterness and big piney and citrusy aromas so essential to the style.

I find myself a little off the beaten path when in comes to the traditionalists in the craft brew industry. I invite this new style with open arms and see past the trends. Many individuals in the Pacific Northwest are even spearheading a movement into renaming the style category called Cascadian dark beers. The thinking is the style is derived from the more aggressive and hoppy American IPAs created by Oregon and Washington craft brewers, who live near the Cascade mountains, in the 1980s. This is kind of impossible to prove and just sounds like silly provincialism to me, but whatever.

With all this talk about renaming of styles and such one finds them selves asking, who came up with this wonderful style of beer? This my friends is where the story gets interesting. I myself remember first running into this style from our good SoCal friends at stone.

The SSRA was originally Stone's 11th Anniversary beer for 2007 - its annual one-and-done birthday beer. The craft beer cognoscenti - and the Stone folks - loved the 11th so much they decided to make it part of their regular roster of beers, brewmaster Mitch Steele said. That has only happened once before, when the Stone 5th Anniversary beer became the much loved Ruination IPA.

Stone wasn't the first to brew a black IPA, but it may have been the first to bottle it for wide distribution, Steele said. "I think we definitely helped popularize the style," he said. "We've been brewing it occasionally (since 2007), but now we are rolling it out full time. It's a beer near and dear my heart." So all this being said, maybe the style wasn’t created in the Pacific Northwest, and according to the Arrogant folks over at stone it was popularized in the Pacific Northwest it certainly has been perfected their and become a trend that is catching on everywhere. So I share with the fellow beer drinker. Go find yourself a Black IPA and enjoy. And for some reason if you find yourself to be unlucky and living somewhere in the US, oh I don’t know maybe Texas or New Jersey, and can’t find one of these wonderful brews on tap. Ask your local bartender to mix you up a nice stout and IPA.

Cheers !!!