Stone-The Alchemist-Ninkasi More Brown Than Black IPA

While I was in New York at DiCicco’s, I picked up a bottle of the Stone/The Alchemist/Ninkasi collaboration More Brown Than Black IPA. The beer pours a dark brown color (implied in the name!) with a lofty and frothy beige colored head that leaves speckled lacing on the glass. There are lots of floating materials in this glass, and they settle together on the bottom. The aroma consists of lemon, tangerine, grapefruit, caramel, roasted malts, and caramel. The taste is lightly chocolaty with bitter lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine. As the beer finishes on the back of the tongue, a nice coffee accent comes out to play. Toasted malts are left behind with a mix of bitter grapefruit. The alcohol content is 7.4% ABV. This was quite a delectable beer with a great chocolate based that balances bitter citrus flavors well. The best part of it was the slight coffee flavor on the finish, which blew my socks off and completely impressed me.

21st Amendment-Ninkasi Allies Win the War!

My buddy Matt and I decided to split a four-pack of cans of the 21st Amendment-Ninkasi collaboration called Allies Win the War! I opened this can just before the news of Kim-Jong Il dying was hitting Twitter (coincidence?). The beer pours a dark amber color with a frothy beige head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass as it recedes. The aroma consists of caramel, sweet malts, dates, and raisin. It reminded me of opening a container of dates when I was younger. The taste is sweet and smooth while having a nice bitterness to it. The front end brings caramel, dates, and malts before a pine and spruce hop accent kicks in and dries out the tongue. The after taste leaves bits of pepper on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. This was great beer that started out with a nice sweetness, but complete brought out a bitter side with hops and dried out the mouth. I loved every second of it, and would love to pick up a few more cans.

Ninkasi Brewing Total Domination IPA

As part of a beer trade with AJ, I received a bottle of Ninkasi Brewing Total Domination IPA. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head that looks like the top of a jacuzzi. The aroma consists of grapefruit, tangerine, sugar, caramel, lemon, pine, and pepper. The taste is bold and bitter with plenty of caramel and toffee right up front before the citrus flavors come out to play. There is tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon before a pepper and pine finish rounds out the flavor. The alcohol content is 6.7% ABV. This was a well put together IPA, but don’t think it to be an oily IPA, but definitely a bitter and citrusy one with a solid caramel and toffee base.