Boy, did I have a hard time finding the Sierra Nevada 4-Way IPA 12-pack or what? This 12-pack sampler includes three bottles each of 4 beers, the perennial favorite Torpedo Extra Pale Ale, Snow Wit White IPA, Nooner Session IPA, and the beer I’m drinking tonight, Sierra Nevada Blindfold Black IPA. I had seen pictures of it (and the beers it contains) posted in my favorite beer group, Honest Craft Beer Reviews, but couldn’t find the stuff to save my life. Well, until April anyway when I scored some at Bullocks liquors in Woodstock.
Black IPA (more properly referred to as India Dark Ale) is one of those rare IPA fusion beers that really works, and it is a style that has quickly become one of my favorites. Sierra Nevada says of their version, from the label:
Blindfold blankets us in darkness yet maintains a surprisingly light body and bold, hoppy character. This black IPA emerged from our Beer Camp program and builds on Sierra Nevada’s legendary love of hops with roasted malts for depth and complexity. Like its namesake, Blindfold is a bit disorienting—the color of a stout and the intense, hop-forward flavors of a classic American IPA.
Ingredients from the website:
Yeast Ale yeast
Bittering Hops Summit, Chinook
Finishing Hops Summit, Cascade, Mosaic
Malts Two-row Pale, Carafa III
Sierra Nevada Blindfold Black IPA packs a wallop with 70 IBUs and 6.8% alcohol by volume. I paid $15.99 for the 12-pack sampler, which isn’t really bad when you think about it for 12 bottles of four different beers. My 12-pack was packaged on 2/25/2014.
Sierra Nevada Blindfold Black IPA pours to a jet black (but not opaque) color with a towering head of rocky foam and a delicious smelling nose of black coffee and piney hops. A thick layer of Brussels lace slings to the sides of the glass and follows the liquid all the way to the bottom.
Taking a sip, the coffee is the first thing to hit the palate followed by dark chocolate, creamy chocolate pudding, and of course, hops. The roastiness is huge on this one, and as I sip there’s just loads of roastiness, and more chocolate and more coffee. The beer has a very full body, too, somewhat at odds with the “surprisingly light body” claim made by Sierra Nevada.
Back to the hops, they’re big and resiny and really piney in aroma and flavor, just a hint citrusy, and herbal in their long, very dry bitter finish. I will give this one 4.5 stars, it’s a wonderful beer hedonistically, but as for a Black IPA it falls into a pitfall and seems more like a very hoppy stout or robust porter to me. I’ll call it a Black IPA because Sierra Nevada says it is and because its close, but it seems more like a stout to me.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler