A little honesty before this post. Sprecher Brewing is a brewery that I am familiar with. In the late spring of 2010, during a baseball trip to Milwaukee, my buddies and I spent a few hours at the Sprecher Brewery in Glendale, WI.
Sprecher Brewery is probably most famous for their Root Beer and various other soda's, but their origins are as a beer brewery. It wasn't until the owner of the brewery began to feel sorry for all of the children that were tagging along for the brewery tours that he decided to brew some root beer to keep them pacified during the tour. Several years later, soda would be the main product out of Sprecher and there delicious beers would not see the wide distribution that the soda has seen.
Having tasted several of the beers while on the tour of the brewery, it was decided that the Black IPA was not one that was remembered from that spring in 2010. Picking up a 22 oz bottle at the local spirit shop, it has been sitting in the cool garage for the last week waiting for a clean palate and good hearty thirst.
The brew pours out black, darker then the darkest coffee with a rich and creamy brown head. The carbonation is about perfect and the head sticks to the sides of the glass like a sticky candy.
The brew has a rich bouquet of hops that you need to inhale in softly or else you miss it. The citrusy aroma of the hops are mixed with a small pinch of pine or evergreen, give a feeling that you will be drinking a young green citrus.
The beer has a bold tart and bitter flavor. The tangy and bitter send the taste buds into over drive. The citrus hits the sides of the tongue and as you swallow the bitters take over leaving a strong bitter flavor well after the drink is done. This is not an IPA for those who do not like a strong hop flavor.
The beer is smooth and the carbonation provides a little tickle as it process down the gullet.
Overall this is not a beer for the light beer drinker. It has rich and daring flavors that might be overpowering to even to those that enjoy a good IPA. It has fantastic aromas, rich flavors and rich short history.
The best treat is that I have the I got 6oz more then a pint, so I get to go for round two when I am done writing this!