Black IPA - Big Rig Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa)

Black IPA - Big Rig Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa) 6.2%

The first things I check when I have been served or pour a Black IPA are the obvious ones: is it dark and is it hoppy. Big Rig's Black IPA meets both those criteria. It is a very dark (and damn near opaque) mahogany colour (or maybe even darker than that) with a thick and creamy mocha coloured head of foam. It also has a very nice resiny hop aroma with loads of tropical fruit tones. To the taste the first thing I noticed was a earthy, toasted, nutty, slightly coffee-like malt flavour followed closely by a strong hops flavour of cedar and resin with a strongly bitter finish. This is a really nice Black IPA and, to top it all off, the design on the can is super cool.

Loki - Celtic Knot (Canada - New Brunswick - Riverview)

Loki - Celtic Knot (Canada - New Brunswick - Riverview) 6.0%

Totally black in a glass, tan head that fads quickly but with thick lacing. Mango and payaya aroma bordering on almost soapy. Coffee and other roasty flavours with lots of hops: grapefruit, payaya, and cedar. This is one of the best examples, in my opinion, of a Black IPA because it has the hefty coffee and other dark malt notes but very strong hops tones as well.

Pénombre - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jérome) 6.5%

Pénombre - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jérome) 6.5%

A very dark brown, not quite opaque with a tan head that leaves behind good lacing. The aroma is roasty with dark chocolate and coffee/espresso hints but also some resiney hops. I'm looking forward to tasting this one - the aroma sets my mouth watering.

Sooo nice, smoky, dark chocolate, roasty malt with bitterness especially in the aftertaste. There is a pleasant and mild cedar or resin flavour to the beer as well. A bit of pine comes out as the beer warms. Pénombre is a really nice beer, it bills itself as a Black IPA but it seems more like an American Stout but it's a blurred line not a clear demarcation so if they want to call it a Black IPA I'll call it a delicious one.

Cascadian Dark - Wild Rose (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

Cascadian Dark - Wild Rose (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

Black, just about opaque in a glass. Nice lacing. Hoppy, spicy, floral, pine hops character also bitter and slightly astringent. A moderate grain flavour. There is a little pineapple to the hops some faint dark malt coffee-ish flavours but very much in the background. The aftertaste is still hop dominated but has a little more coffee, grain and smoke. All in all this is a really nice hops forward dark IPA.

Blacksmith India Black Ale - Village Brewery (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 5.4%

Blacksmith India Black Ale - Village Brewery (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 5.4%

Pours a nearly opaque black in a glass with a creamy off-white head that leaves nice lacing. A smoky, coffee aroma with some wood tones and just a hint of hops. Milk chocolate flavour first and foremost, black coffee flavours as well as some mellow smoke tastes and touches of caramel. Moderate amounts of both sweetness and bitterness: sweeter in the middle, more bitter in the finish. Some faint green, slightly astringent and slightly piney hops flavours throughout.

I was hoping for a stronger hop flavour on the lines of a milder Storm King Imperial Stout but Village Brewery's Blacksmith India Black Ale is still a fine dark ale even though it may leave some hop enthusiasts a little underwhelmed.

Two Delicious but Temporary Offerings from Rockbottom (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Wreckoning - Rockbottom Brewpub (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 10.0%

Yikes, this Russian Imperial Stout is not messing around! On account of its strength, I wouldn't mind if they sold a 8oz version rather than only the 12. On account of its taste, I wouldn't mind getting a barrel to take home with me; but more on that later.

Wreckington smells punishingly high in alcohol with lots of dark fruit and bourbon tones: delightful and dangerous. Nitrogenated by a sparkler faucet this stout has a velvety smooth, creamy head. Black and more or less opaque in a glass.

The taste is just, wow. Bursting with flavour: dark and milk chocolate, molasses, fruit esters, vanilla as well as oaky wood tones, dark fruit and bourbon-like tones. So good and, as I have already mentioned, not messing about. As a result, beer geeks will flip for this one while many others will turn up their noses at a beer so strongly (and awesomely) flavoured.

Blackened IPA - Rockbottom Brewpub (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 6.8%

A strongly green spruce aroma with a hefty dose of sweetness. A shade more brown that black but just about opaque in a glass with just a touch of sediment. Lots of that same spruce flavour in the taste with plenty of wooden tones and a green cut grass taste that comes through with an astringent quality and a chest warming feeling that conveys its high ABV. This cask ale was of normal carbonation but pleasantly just on the cool side of room temperature having been sitting on the bar in a kirkin sized thermos for about three hours before I got my pint. A lovely cask ale, makes me wish I was in Halifax for every Firkin Saturday at Rockbottom.