Earned Not Given Black IPA

Review Date 6/10/2024 By John Staradumsky

  Style: India Dark Ale    Brewery: Schoolhouse   Country: USA   State: Georgia   $ Per OZ: $.25 (B), $.47 (D)   ABV: 6%

I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again: Marietta’s Schoolhouse brewery may just be the ultimate beer ticker’s paradise. They have a large number of beers on tap at any time, and they usually only brew them once. That doesn’t mean they only brew a style once, of course, but they do tweak and brew the same styles with subtle variations.

Take, for example, Earned Not Given Black IPA. I enjoyed this recently on a visit to Schoolhouse and found it was a lot like the Gothic Grains Black IPA I bought there a few years ago. Both beers have an alcohol content of 6% by volume, but the hops and malts are different.

Gothic Grains ingredients:

Malt: Pilsen, Dextrin, Aciduated, Carafa, Speciali, Melanoidin, Roasted Barley Malt.

Hops: Magnum, Warrior

Yeast: San Diego Ale Yeast

Earned Not Given ingredients:

Malt: 2-Row, Dextrin, Acid, Choc, Carafa II

Hops: Vera, Copper, Alpha

Yeast: Chico

I prefer to call the style India Dark Ale. Black IPA is a contradiction in terms; IPA is India Pale Ale, and how can a beer be black and pale at the same time? Inconceivable!

Schoolhouse says:

Earned Not Given is a back IPA with firm bitterness clean roast. Michigan Copper and Vera deliver citrus and pine over dark malt depth. Dry, direct, no favors handed out.

I enjoyed a pint of this beer at the brewery for $7.50 and took home a 4-pack for $15.99.  

My glass of Earned Not Given Black IPA arrived jet black in color with a thick fluffy tan head and a nose of dark roasted malt. Taking a sip the beer is medium in body with a clean dark roasty maltiness and I get notes of chocolate pudding with the skins on, just like your mom used to make on the stove. Earthy, resiny-piney hops permeate and pop in the bitter roasty hoppy finish.

Not all that different than the Gothic Grains Black IPA, but perhaps a tad less roasty due to the omission of roasted barley. I definitely enjoyed this beer all the same, I love the style and I do not see it often enough these days.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??