Muzza at it again. This time however I'm not as brimming with confidence as I normally would be, because this is a 7.5% 'India Black Ale'... I'm not really familiar with an 'IBA' per se, but I'm assuming this is some kind of Frankenstein-like combination of an IPA and a Dark Ale. The bottle also states that if you don't like it... it's 'Shawn's fault'. The tag line also reads 'nasty but nice'. Here goes nothing.
The ale pours as black as Batman's left boot, with little to no head. Much like the caped crusader, it sits there brooding and looking menacing in the glass. The first sip is an explosive cluster bomb, sending varied particles of flavour shrapnel scattering around my blast zone which is my mouth. The most obvious component is bitter dark chocolate, which is far closer to cocoa than milk chocolate. A mild streak of malt presents itself, before a surprisingly hopped finish is rounded out by a warming burn of alcohol. Wow. Not the greatest beer to drink during a heatwave, but I would guess that on a cold night in front of the fire this would be a more worthy companion.
The dark chocolate in combination with an amped level of hops is a bitter pill to swallow. My face right now probably resembles Gary Ablett on Brownlow night in 2008... just without the welling tears. Even the carbonation is big here, which is somewhat rare in both IPA's and Dark Ales. This is a completely left field beer. I can't say this up my alley, nor was it the right environment, but if you like dark beers then this is undoubtedly something to get excited about.
6.5/10
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