Dubhe Black IPA

Style: Imperial black IPA
Brewery: Uinta Brewing
Origin: USA
Size: 47cl
Alcohol: 9.3%
Price: 59kr
Systembolaget: 10485 (sold out)

Founded in 1993 by Will Hamill, Uinta Brewing began its journey in a renovated mechanic’s garage in Salt Lake City. The brewery is named after the Uinta Mountains, the only major east-west running mountain range in the continental U.S. In 2001, Uinta became the first company in Utah to be 100% wind-powered, showcasing their commitment to environmental sustainability, then also installed solar panels on the roof in 2011. This has been brewed with hemp seeds to give an earthy, nutty character and hopped with Chinook, Columbus and Bravo hops. In this tasting, I knew I wanted a wide a range of IPA styles as possible. As I had a session IPA, fruit IPA and triple IPA, I wanted something a bit darker to finish the tasting with. Black IPA aren’t that common in Sweden, with imperial black IPA even less so. This seemed like the perfect way to end the tasting, and I was right!

This was deep chocolate brown to ruby with a medium cream head that lasted a fair amount of time. Dark chocolate, coffee and pine all came though in the extremely pleasant aroma. Pine was noted first in the taste, but then bitter cacao slowly came into its own at the forefront of the taste. This rolled over the palate for a long time and dried the mouth out. This medium bodied beer also gave hits of cold-brewed coffee grounds, sap, and a hint of grapefruit peel when swallowed. The high alcohol content was well hidden, with only the slight warmth in the back of the throat giving it away. The richness of this beer paired beautifully with the sweet chocolate truffle we had at the tasting, uplifting both the taste and body.

This was a very well-made black IPA that balanced both the high hop bitterness and the dark, roasted notes well. If you’re looking for an IPA at the darker end of the spectrum, this would be a very good place to start.