Magic Hat Blacl IPA

My first Black IPA, good flavor but missing the normal floral, bitter IPa taste. Has a hint of chocolate after taste, not a bad beer, comes in the 12-pack spring mixer pack with #9, Demo, plus minus, and Vinyl.

If you want something worse, there is always Vinyl in that 12-pack. Or their Juniper Rye… man that is awful.

I live 3 miles from the brewery, but seldom drink their beer.

Never tried it. I had the #9 once on a whim. Hands down, one of the worst beers I’ve ever tried. But I’m not big on apricot. It just really over powered the rest of the beer.

[quote=“alanzo”]If you want something worse, there is always Vinyl in that 12-pack. Or their Juniper Rye… man that is awful.

I live 3 miles from the brewery, but seldom drink their beer.[/quote]

Magic Hat really changed once the founder sold out. At one time they were innovative, made some really good beers, and were a lot of fun. No longer.

[quote=“MichaelS”][quote=“alanzo”]If you want something worse, there is always Vinyl in that 12-pack. Or their Juniper Rye… man that is awful.

I live 3 miles from the brewery, but seldom drink their beer.[/quote]

Magic Hat really changed once the founder sold out. At one time they were innovative, made some really good beers, and were a lot of fun. No longer.[/quote]

That same thing happened here with a local brewery nearby. That really sucks.

I’m a fan of BIPA’s but don’t enjoy many commercial versions. They tend to lean to heavily on coffee/chocolate flavors, which to me is just a hoppy stout or porter. And quite often they’re just not very hoppy. If/when this becomes a BJCP category, this is the proposed description of flavor:

Flavor – A balance between citrus like and spicy Northwest hop flavor, bitterness, caramel and roast, chocolate, or Carafa® type malts. Any roast character should be subdued. Black malt is acceptable at low levels but should not be astringent. Any burnt character is not appropriate. The finish should be dry with caramel malt as a secondary flavor. Diacetyl should not be present. The main emphasis should be on hop flavor.

The main emphasis should still be on hop flavor, not the chocolate and/or roasted malts, which I feel most commercial versions are. Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade NJ and Manyunk Brewery in Philadelphia both make very good BIPA’s. And not to toot my own horn, but I make a pretty tasty BIPA. I use heavy late additions and dry hop with Cascade, Citra and Centennial.

I’m a HUGE fan of BIPAs. They’re the whole reason I started brewing. I haven’t made one yet, though. I want to have my ducks in a row before I start perfecting my recipe for that one.

For me there are 2 main keys:

  1. NO CHOCOLATE MALT!!! I know some is acceptable, but I don’t like much if any chocolate or coffee flavors in a BIPA. To darken use dehusked carafa or even better, use Breiss Midnight Wheat. That’s what I use to darken in mine. No astringency or bitter flavor from the malt and adds just a small touch of coffee/chocolate flavor.

  2. American citrus hops all the way!!! Heavy late additions and a big dry hop!!!

I’m also a big fan of the Black IPA / Cascadian Dark Ale style. Otter Creek’s Black IPA is a good beer. The Black IPA kit from NB is a great recipe to brew. Big hit with my friends and family.

On a side note, I just received two West Coast BIPA’s and two CDA’s on Saturday. A friend of mine went on a road trip from CT to Seattle and back. I have a bottle of Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA from Firestone Walker and Dark Rain Black IPA from Bridgeport Brewing. I also received a bottle of Ink Heart Cascadian Dark Ale from Laurelwood Brewing and a bottle of Hop in the Dark CDA from Deschutes Brewing. I’ve only tried the Dark Rain so far and it was fantastic. I still have another bottle of that one left for later. I also received 5 other West Coast beers as well. I haven’t opened any yet. Not sure where to start.

[quote=“StarsBars Brewing”]I’m also a big fan of the Black IPA / Cascadian Dark Ale style. Otter Creek’s Black IPA is a good beer. The Black IPA kit from NB is a great recipe to brew. Big hit with my friends and family.

On a side note, I just received two West Coast BIPA’s and two CDA’s on Saturday. A friend of mine went on a road trip from CT to Seattle and back. I have a bottle of Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA from Firestone Walker and Dark Rain Black IPA from Bridgeport Brewing. I also received a bottle of Ink Heart Cascadian Dark Ale from Laurelwood Brewing and a bottle of Hop in the Dark CDA from Deschutes Brewing. I’ve only tried the Dark Rain so far and it was fantastic. I still have another bottle of that one left for later. I also received 5 other West Coast beers as well. I haven’t opened any yet. Not sure where to start.[/quote]

Black RYE!? That’s something I’m going to have to try. I drank 5 of the 12 Hop Rod Rye IPAs from Bear Republic at my workplace this last month. Even the Ruthless Rye from Sierra Nevada is good. If there’s a successful Black Rye you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be trying to brew it.

Never heard of West Coasts BIPAs, but a friend of mine works at Laurelwood and I’d vouch for the quality of their beer any day. Dark Rain was a little underwhelming for me, but then I haven’t liked much of their beer. Hop in the Dark is definitely in the vein of BIPA that people have been complaining about having too dark of a malt. What are your other West Coasters?

[quote=“Hoppenheimer”]

Black RYE!? That’s something I’m going to have to try. I drank 5 of the 12 Hop Rod Rye IPAs from Bear Republic at my workplace this last month. Even the Ruthless Rye from Sierra Nevada is good. If there’s a successful Black Rye you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be trying to brew it.

Never heard of West Coasts BIPAs, but a friend of mine works at Laurelwood and I’d vouch for the quality of their beer any day. Dark Rain was a little underwhelming for me, but then I haven’t liked much of their beer. Hop in the Dark is definitely in the vein of BIPA that people have been complaining about having too dark of a malt. What are your other West Coasters?[/quote]

Maybe PNW BIPA’s might be a better description. But I also got 5 other beers. Here’s the rundown:

Hop in the Dark CDA - Deschutes, Oregon
Ink Heart CDA - Laurelwood, Oregon
Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA - Firestone Walker, California
Dark Rain Black IPA - Bridgeport, Oregon
Interurban IPA - Fremont Brewing, Washington
St. Florian IPA - Silver City Brewing, Washington
Big Sky IPA - Big Sky Brewing, Montana
Pako’s IPA - Snake River Brewing, Wyoming
Teton Ale - Grand Teton Brewing, Idaho

I haven’t open a single one yet. I can’t decide on where to start.

Here’s a link to my blog with more info on my treasure trove of fermented fun.

http://www.starsbarsbrewing.blogspot.co ... eaven.html

If I were you I’d start with that wookey. But, that’s only because I’m damn curious what you think.

I had a Wooky on tap at a tap takeover during Philly Beer Week. TERRIBLE! The worst BIPA I’ve ever had. Sad because I had such high hopes. They’re Union Jack and Double Jack are fantastic IPA’s.

For my dark IPA, I add the Carafa II after the mash on top of the grain bed before the sparge. Gives me all the color I need and keeps the roasty flavors out.

[quote=“MichaelS”][quote=“alanzo”]If you want something worse, there is always Vinyl in that 12-pack. Or their Juniper Rye… man that is awful.

I live 3 miles from the brewery, but seldom drink their beer.[/quote]

Magic Hat really changed once the founder sold out. At one time they were innovative, made some really good beers, and were a lot of fun. No longer.[/quote]

The founder sold out in that he brought the company public. He is a business man. Once that happens, its easy to have a founder get pushed out. It happens.

In Magic Hat’s case, I’m not sure it made a lot of difference to the beers. My opinion that it was always a “image first” marketing strategy - the beer names, graphics, labels seemed to always trump the actual contents of the bottle. For personally, Magic Hat was, and is, a “gateway” brand to other beers produced here in Vermont and elsewhere. One of which, happens to be Fiddlehead Brewing which is owned and operated by the former head brewer at Magic Hat, Matt Cohen. Fiddlehead IPA is a solid offering.

I’ve not had the black IPA either to get back to the topic…

[quote=“MichaelS”][quote=“alanzo”]If you want something worse, there is always Vinyl in that 12-pack. Or their Juniper Rye… man that is awful.

I live 3 miles from the brewery, but seldom drink their beer.[/quote]

Magic Hat really changed once the founder sold out. At one time they were innovative, made some really good beers, and were a lot of fun. No longer.[/quote]

The founder sold out in that he brought the company public. He is a business man. Once that happens, its easy to have a founder get pushed out. It happens.

In Magic Hat’s case, I’m not sure it made a lot of difference to the beers. My opinion that it was always a “image first” marketing strategy - the beer names, graphics, labels seemed to always trump the actual contents of the bottle. For personally, Magic Hat was, and is, a “gateway” brand to other beers produced here in Vermont and elsewhere. One of which, happens to be Fiddlehead Brewing which is owned and operated by the former head brewer at Magic Hat, Matt Cohen. Fiddlehead IPA is a solid offering.

I’ve not had the black IPA either to get back to the topic…

Such a fool! Turns out the hi hat pad sends a different message depending on whether the pedal is pressed or not! So two rules - one for hi hat open and one for hi hat closed. And the pedal set to hi hat tight!

Will do. And I’ll add more cowbell for good measure…

No sh!t…total thread derail!!

I’m guessing he was logged into another forum on tapatalk (or similar on cell phone) and posted to the wrong forum.