Wachusett Imperial Black IPA [Beer Review]
I have a soft spot for black IPAs so when we heard Wachusett was launching an Imperial Black IPA as their latest beer, Jeff and I knew we had to go check it out. Black IPA as a style can mean so many things, sometimes it’s purely an IPA with some darker malts, other times a hoppy porter and in a few cases a hoppy stout. If the word imperial normally scares you off, don’t let it this time. At 7.3% abv it certainly comes in higher than the average IPA but it’s not a massive booze bomb like some other imperials on the market. In fact I tried to taste the alcohol in the beer and couldn't.
What you do get is an insanely smooth and balanced black IPA. There’s a nice hop aroma that comes from the use of Zythos, Falconers Flight and Calypso hops. Not familiar with those strains? Yeah we weren’t either, they’re new west coast strains. What we can say is they taste really really good, imparting both citrus and pine notes into the beer. This beer is also most definitely an IPA first. They use midnight and chocolate wheat malts, which turn the beer pitch black but don’t make it overly sweet or too roasty. The use of wheat also adds an incredible smoothness to the finish. Both Jeff and I kept commenting how easy the beer was to drink, which could be a bit dangerous because, while you can’t taste the 7.3% ABV, it’s still there. While there’s no doubt this is a very hoppy beer it’s also incredibly balanced, and in our opinion it’s one of the best beers Wachusett has put out. We were told the beer should be hitting stores starting today (Friday, January 27th 2012), so if you’re reading this go pick some up!
