Emelisse Black IPA

Black IPA is fast becoming my favourite style of beer. No, scratch that. It is now my favourite style of beer.

I know it doesn’t make any sense as a traditional style, but I don’t much care. It’s a form of the brewer’s art that combines my long-term love of serious dark beers with my more recent appreciation of IPAs. Yum plus yum times infinity trumps style pedantry. So there.

Emelisse Black IPA, from The Netherlands, is a great example of the genre. It’s as dark as an overcast night with a tan head, cloudy and menacing. It offers up an aroma of musty tar, and the taste follows naturally: as bitter as a pine box, dipped in turpentine before being lowered into a newly dug grave.

Rich espresso notes? Yep. Dark chocolate? Of course. Pitch, oakum? Shed-loads. Add to that a few layers of hoppy florals... Wow. This one even gives Brodie’s Dalston Black IPA a run for its money.

Unfortuantely, it’s not the easiest to find around Brussels. The only two places I know of where you can get it are the Malting Pot and Deliciously Different, which also has the advantage of carrying the Brodie’s. I would strongly recommend you give it a try.

Once again: wow.