Hop In The Dark Cascadian Dark Ale - Deschutes Brewery

beagle75

Iowa

4/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Poured from a bomber into an imperial pint glass.

A: Opaque black color, with no light penetrating through. One finger of beige foam head waits patiently for permission to disperse. Light lacing remains on the glass.

S: So strong it is detectable at arm's length, this beer has a complex smell that includes grapefruit citrus, pine, soy sauce, cereal, and olive brine.

T: Begins with off-dry fruit esters and mild aromatic hops that give way to much bigger, darker, roasty and grainy malt flavors. The finish is characterized by a bracing bitterness from which the dark roast is not soon diminished.

M: Thin viscosity (bordering on being watery) and moderate carbonation seem out of place here. The texture of this beer is its least attractive feature.

D: This beer represents a good effort on the part of Deschutes to marry dark and hoppy qualities in one drinkable package. If anything, better balance could be achieved by adding emphasis to the hop bill--while certainly detectable, the aromatic hops seem one-note and not particularly characterful. The up side to this restrained hoppiness is that Hop in the Dark pairs wonderfully with savory food (such as the smoked sausage sandwich at Beachwood BBQ, on one outing). While the lion's share of recent dark IPA hybrids seem overdone, here Deschutes could give it another 10% and still be close to the mean (if that was indeed their goal).

Serving type: bottle

09-11-2010 22:34:07 | More by beagle75

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