Harpoon Black IPA - Harpoon Brewery

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BA SCORE
84
good
-
215 Ratings

rAvg: 3.73
pDev: 13.4%
Reviews: 67
Hads: 148

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Harpoon Brewery

Massachusetts, United States

Style | ABV
American Black Ale | 7.00% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (55), on-tap (12).

Notes:
Harpoon brewer Matt DeLuca took over the brewhouse for our 40th 100 Barrel Series offering. A newly released specialty malt from Briess called Midnight Wheat gives this beer an almost stout-like appearance without the overly roasty attributes often associated with traditional dark malts. Flaked barley is also used in the malt bill for head retention. An intense yet diverse hop addition schedule is executed during the boil that results in a well balanced offering.

On top of the Chinook, Simcoe, Cascade, and Citra hops is an ample addition of Ahtanum hops that provides a fruity aroma to complement the earthy, spicy bitterness of this dark ale.

67 IBU

Reviews

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Reviews by micromaniac129:

micromaniac129

Pennsylvania

3.78/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours with a desently tall tan head that lingers quite awhile over a deep chestnut body.
Aroma has a nice hop bouquet of citrus and floral hops. Malts have a robust smell that balances quite well with the hops. The first thing I noticed in the taste was a heavy ash or charcoal taste. The second thing I noticed was the 67 IBU's at the finish. And in between you have the malts and hops. For as well as it smelled, the hops don't come through in the taste. The hops are lacking in flavor and what hops you do taste are muddled. Malts are present and accounted for with a hint of roastedness.
On one had the beer drinks smooth on the other there is a good amount of chalkiness, I assume is from the black patent malts. There is a quite bitter finish.
Not a bad beer, two things though: the heavy ash taste and lack of hop flavor, could use work there.

Serving type: bottle

02-18-2012 12:52:16 | More by micromaniac129

More User Reviews:

VictorWisc

Massachusetts

3.5/5 rDev -6.2%

06-17-2013 18:07:27 | More by VictorWisc

Orange

Massachusetts

4.25/5 rDev +13.9%

06-16-2013 07:39:17 | More by Orange

dbkdev

Massachusetts

3.5/5 rDev -6.2%

06-16-2013 01:40:31 | More by dbkdev

Cleaver35

Oklahoma

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

06-12-2013 00:29:56 | More by Cleaver35

braedon_peluso

New York

4.75/5 rDev +27.3%

06-10-2013 02:38:47 | More by braedon_peluso

dllman25

New Jersey

4/5 rDev +7.2%

06-02-2013 22:17:55 | More by dllman25

luvbier

Vermont

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

06-02-2013 20:13:34 | More by luvbier

hockeyfighter19

Pennsylvania

4.25/5 rDev +13.9%

06-02-2013 16:09:30 | More by hockeyfighter19

gferg10

Massachusetts

3/5 rDev -19.6%

06-01-2013 10:55:28 | More by gferg10

ilikebeer03

Texas

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

05-30-2013 02:03:33 | More by ilikebeer03

discharmingly

Massachusetts

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

05-29-2013 12:31:28 | More by discharmingly

stakem

Pennsylvania

3.93/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks to Slatetank for gifting me with a bottle of this. 12oz into a pint, the brew appears dark brown to black in color with clarity seen around the edges. A tan finger of big bubble composition fades leaving small patches of lace sticking to the glass.

The aroma includes notes of fruity alcohol and hops at first. Then a bit of roast and maple-like sweetness. It is somewhat floral in the way the hops and alcohol blend together. Not bad, as stated, it blends together nicely unlike others in the style that seem strange and disjointed.

The flavor is bitter from a 1-2 punch of hops and roasted grain. Some bitter chocolate/coffee blends into an herbal to pine-like resiny bitterness that clings. Some earth and hints of maple/caramel along with floral notes towards the finish.

This is a medium bodied brew with a modest amount of carbonation. A nice black ipa that I would drink again and im not the biggest fan of this style. Well done, worth trying. Thanks again Matt.

Serving type: bottle

05-28-2013 18:10:11 | More by stakem