Like the ever fluctuating popularity of beer in general, beer styles have their own cycle of life. Some beer styles fade into obscurity and die out, but some lie dormant and reappear every now and then. Black IPA is one such style. Revered by some, disregarded by others. In recent years there was a decline in the production by craft breweries. I first noticed it at beer festivals, an arena where brewers usually showcase their best or newest beers. It kept getting more difficult to find one. More recently I have seen it slowly picking up again, though a local Rotterdam brewery, Jelster, removed their version called ‘Bionic Blacksmith’ from their core range last year because it wasn’t selling enough, as did Kaapse Brouwers with their ‘Kaapse Bea’. In contrast, a few kilometers away my friends at Brouwerij IJssel just added a Black IPA ‘Algiz’ to their core range. Other breweries have started slowly bringing it back again, mainly in their seasonal range, which I very much applaud. You probably had already guessed, I am fan! The frequent ups and downs of this beer style are a bit of a mystery to me, but I can tell you why I think it’s wonderful and hopefully convince you that it is worth drinking.
The Delicious Oxymoron: what is a Black IPA?
Beer style and language purists will tell you there is no such thing as a Black IPA. How can an India Pale Ale be black? Indeed, if you take it very literally, it’s not possible. That is why it is also sometimes referred to as a ‘Cascadian Dark Ale’. A what, you say? That response would be my very argument why Black IPA is a perfectly good name. Everyone, well almost everyone, knows what an IPA is. And this is an IPA that’s black. Pretty much self-explanatory. It has all the bitter and aromatic hoppy goodness of an IPA. The dark malts provide the dark color and notable flavors associated with those malts, such as subtle coffee notes or restrained roast notes like you find in a Schwarzbier, though it should by no means have very roasty or burnt flavors. Brewing a great Black IPA is a high-wire act. It requires using dehusked roasted malts to get the deep color without the astringent, burnt-toast acridity. If the brewer uses too much roasted malt, it becomes a hoppy stout; too little, and it’s more a Brown IPA.
In Joshua Bernstein’s 2016 book ‘Complete IPA’, he mentions different style names such as India black ale, India dark ale, dark IPA, as well as Cascadian (an American hop variety) dark ale, all intended to make clear to the consumer what they are drinking. In reality it may confuse the situation even more, but now you know they are all intended to mean the same thing.
Why you should drink Black IPA
The most frequent reason people give for avoiding Black IPAs is a general dislike of dark beers. They either associate it with Guinness, or the heavy mouthfeel or high ABV of other stouts. As flavorful as we want our food, it strikes me that we don’t necessarily feel the same about our beers. Yet that is exactly what I think beer should be: flavorful, with optional complexity. Black IPA offers just that, it’s a sensory paradox. It provides complexity without the palate fatigue. Standard IPAs can sometimes feel like a one-note bitterness bomb, while stouts can be too filling to drink more than one. In Black IPAs, the roasted malts provide a dry, cocoa, or “toasted bread” backdrop that actually tempers the aggressive hop bitterness. It creates a layered experience where the malt provides the bass notes and the hops provide the melody. If you are hesitant to drink a whole bottle or can in the beginning, start by sharing it with a friend.
Another great thing about Black IPA is that this style lends itself well to food pairing. My favorite combination is with chocolate. Blue cheese and spicy cuisine are good pairings, too.
Who made the first Black IPA?
As with many modern craft beers, the Black IPA is an American invention. At least in terms of its name and specific recipe. Long before, brewers had been playing around with a combination of dark malts and generously hopped beer. “Black and hoppy” beers already existed in the 1800s. British breweries like Barclay Perkins were known to brew heavily hopped export porters and stouts that were dry-hopped in the cask. However, those were essentially “Super Porters,” whereas the modern Black IPA is designed to taste like a bright, West Coast IPA that just happens to be the color of midnight.
It is generally accepted that Vermont Pub & Brewery was the first to brew it in the 1990s, the Blackwatch IPA. Mitch Steele describes in his book ‘IPA’ how this inspired New England breweries like The Alchemist and Hill Farmstead to brew dark IPAs. The Pacific Northwest followed suit in the early noughties, like Rogue Brewery with their Black Brutal Bitter. Mitch worked at Stone Brewing at the time and came up with the recipe for the legendary Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA. Despite waning popularity of this style in the US, this beer was brought back in 2021, 2022 and 2024 as a specialty ‘throwback’ due to high demand. Some examples of well-known breweries who bring back their Black IPA periodically are Firestone Walker and Allagash.
My favorite Black IPAs
According to beer app Untappd, I have checked in almost 100 Black IPAs. I’m a lazy Untappd user, so the number is probably higher. I was curious to see if my taste had changed over the last 10 years and to see what I had rated as the best one. It turns out to be Bastet by Walhalla Brewery in Amsterdam, which is the only one I gave 5 stars. Hard to say if it’s the best Black IPA I have ever had, but I certainly thought so in the moment I was drinking it. Possibly influenced also by some emotion over Bastet Brewery in Tampa, FL, closing in 2024, but without a doubt Walhalla’s beers are top-notch. Over the years I have consistently been drinking this style and immensely enjoying it.
The first one I drank (according to my Untappd account, obviously I have no memory of this, I can barely remember what I did last weekend) was Jolly Roger Raven Bone Hill and gave it four stars. I had only discovered craft beer a year before, so safe to say I fell in love with this style pretty quickly as opposed to Belgian sour beer that took me over 2 years to learn to appreciate (and now I can’t get enough of!). The first one I consciously remember drinking was ‘Dunkle Materie’ by Austrian brewery Brew Age in 2018, at the time one of my favorite breweries. More recent memorable excellent versions were Wild Raven by Thornbridge (England) and Juju by Coypu (Poland). My favorite Rotterdam Black IPAs have unfortunately been discontinued from the core range, but will hopefully come back as limited editions now and then: Bionic Blacksmith by Jelster and Kaapse Bea by Kaapse Brouwers.
I distinctly remember being blown away by the Midnight Moustache in 2019, a black rye NEIPA brewed by De Bebaarde Brouwer, now the head brewer at Kaapse Brouwers in Rotterdam. Ignoring my own Untappd ratings, which are basically snapshots, I would say this is probably my all time favorite.
Most Dutch breweries make a seasonal or limited edition Black IPA, like VandeStreek, Rock City, Walhalla, Jopen, Baxbier and many others. One of the few core range versions is Inktvis by De Kromme Haring, which they describe as “a refreshing and drinkable dark beer in which the abundant fruity aromas are enriched with a touch of roast. A bit like throwing in a little bit of dark chocolate in your fruit salad. Don’t be scared – just jump in!”
If you enjoy Black IPA beers, please help to spread the word. Ask for it at your local brewery or taproom, give them some love at beer festivals, and give them a shout out on social media with #ilikemybeeronthedarkside or #iloveblackipa.
All photos were taken by Tina Rogers, unless otherwise specified.
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