"India Pale Ale" news and stories

It was one of those nights when I drank too much, too quickly, too early. "Maybe you should get a glass of water?" my girlfriend suggested, as I deposited myself at the kitchen table.

Hers was a smart suggestion, but I'd long abandoned common sense. I wanted a nightcap beer, but what to drink? My fridge was stuffed with 22-ouncers of imperial stouts, double IPAs and other strong beers that, in a pinch, could double as rocket fuel. One of those, and I'd be spun like a top into tomorrow's hangover.

But hidden in back I found an aluminum can adorned with an ape astronaut: Bitter American, the seasonal pale ale from San Francisco's 21st Amendment. Through fuzzy eyes I read that Bitter American boasted a respectable 42 IBUs and just 4.4 percent ABV -- session-beer country.

I cracked the tab and was met with a floral bouquet of citrus and subdued caramel (it's dry-hopped with Centennial and Simcoe hops). BA smelled like an IPA but drank far crisper, with a nice biscuity body and enough bitterness to appease my inner hop head. I finished the beer on the double, then fell asleep even faster.

This year, a new breed of India pale ales burst onto the beer scene displaying a tint typically associated with stouts and porters: black.

While those tarmac-hued brews weigh on your tongue like a sack of marbles, black IPAs remain remarkably light. They balance an IPA's bitterness with a darker beer's roasted, chocolaty character, creating a lip-smacking mash-up. (Since a black India pale ale may seem oxymoronic, some brewers and bloggers dub this style a Cascadian dark ale. It references the Pacific Northwest's Cascades range, where many breweries are located. I like black IPA myself, but whatever floats your boat.)

The current avalanche of black IPAs includes Deschutes' Hop in the Dark; Laughing Dog's Dogzilla; and, fresh off the bottling line from Oregon's Full Sail Brewing Company, Bump in the Night (proudly called a Cascadian Dark Ale on the label, FYI). "As a small, independent craft brewer, we have the freedom to be creative and explore new beer styles," said Full Sail CEO and founder Irene Firmat.

As expected, Bump (6.5 percent ABV) pours a smidgen lighter than a lump of Christmas coal. Then the trickery begins: The beer's nose is floral, full of citrus and tropical notes and a touch chocolate, while the fruity, moderately bitter (65 IBUs) flavor is cut with toast and roast.

For this bitter beer, going to the dark side is a very good thing.

Any black IPAs or, err, CDAs that tickle your taste buds? Spill it in the comments.

Last month, my little brother sent me a care package from Ohio filled with all the things I miss from my home state: mainly, Midwestern beer. The box was stuffed with IPAs from Michigan's Bell's, pale ales from Ohio's Brew Kettle and, be still my heart, a selection of brews from Marshall, Michigan's Dark Horse.

The brewery makes a standout West Coast IPA (Crooked Tree) and a terrifically complex Belgian tripel (Sapient Trip Ale), but even better are Dark Horse's, well, dark beers. "I'm a big fan of malt," says owner and head brewer Aaron Morse, whose creations include a quintet of holiday stouts (oatmeal, cream, blueberry, smoked, imperial) and the Three Guy Off the Scale Barley Wine, which registers a burly 15 percent ABV.

Best of all, however, is the Reserve Special Black Bier Ale. Beer-wise, what does that mean? "It doesn't fit anywhere very well," Morse says of the dark-hued Reserve, which straddles the line between stout, porter and ale. "We've entered it in competitions, and a lot of times judges will send it back and say, 'Great beer, but it doesn't fit into a category.'"

Sierra Nevada garnered a ton of press after announcing the forthcoming release of the first year-round addition to their brewing line-up in over a decade. I myself got caught up in the hype, but have been playing it cool waiting to give the beer a try. Part of launching a major new addition to your product line is availability, so half the fun was waiting to see when and where I would first find Torpedo Extra IPA available.

Well, last Friday, I was pleasantly surprised when my local corner store had a couple six-packs stashed in their back cooler. With an official launch date of "late January 2009", it took less than a month for Sierra Nevada's latest offering to make its way onto my block. Not too shabby -- I don't particularly live in a craft beer haven -- and definitely a testament to Sierra Nevada's distribution. For taste, Sierra Nevada is all craft, but on the availability side, Sierra Nevada has become almost as ubiquitous as the big boys.

Over the past 28 years, Sierra Nevada has stood as a formidable national alternative to the massive American macro-brewers. When they started in 1980, there was a dignified simplicity to providing just four basic year-round offerings -- Pale Ale, Porter, Wheat and Stout -- styles which have stood as pillars of the craft industry. But recently, simple has shifted towards quaint, and though Sierra Nevada has always offered a cadre of seasonal and limited selections, someone has seemingly decided it's time to up the ante and add a new addition to their previously untouched year-round core. Welcome Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA.

Torpedo Extra IPA instantly separates itself by name alone, sounding a bit flashier than its other yearlong brethren, as if an ad exec in a mesmerizing tie somehow managed to slip one by the old guard. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Frankly, I've always been on the fence about Sierra Nevada. Much props for making the microbrew market what it is today and all due respect to their Pale Ale which is trumped only by Sam Adams Boston Lager in the annals of craft beer history, but, for my tastes, Sierra Nevada brews have always seemed a bit standard -- a feeling that has only become accentuated as the craft market has deepened.

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