Serve in a tulip at 8-11 °C
What it tastes like
Most drinkers know this beer as black IPA, and the argument over that name (how can a pale ale be black?) is half the reason it gets called black ale instead. It took shape in the American Pacific Northwest and New England in the 2000s, and for a few years every craft brewery seemed to have one. The idea is simple and hard to pull off: the hop load and dryness of an IPA with the colour of a porter.
The craft is in the dark malt. Ordinary roasted barley or black malt brings coffee, ash and an acrid bite that clash with resinous hops, so brewers reach for dehusked black malts such as Carafa Special, often added late in the mash or steeped cold. That gives colour and a soft cocoa note with very little roast. What you should taste is pine, citrus and resin first, a light dark-chocolate shadow second, and a firm, dry bitterness on the finish.
Style profile
- Look
- Opaque black to very dark brown, with ruby edges held to the light and a tan, long-lasting head.
- Aroma and flavour
- Pine, grapefruit and resin from American hops lead, with a restrained cocoa note behind. Roast should be light, never ashy or burnt.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium body, medium carbonation and a dry finish with firm, lingering bitterness. A little creaminess from the dark malt is fine; heaviness is not.
- Ingredients
- Pale malt base, a small share of dehusked black malt such as Carafa Special for colour, American hops like Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe or Chinook, and a clean, attenuative American ale yeast.
In India
Black ale is rare on Indian taps, and it is easy to see why. It is a hoppy beer, so it fades quickly in a warm cold chain, and a black pint in May is a hard sell in most of the country. If a brewpub near you puts one on, drink it fresh, within a few weeks of brewing, while the hop aroma is still loud. It suits a cool monsoon evening and smoky, charred food far better than a heatwave lunch.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Baingan bharta with bajra rotiThe fire-charred aubergine echoes the dark malt, and the hop bitterness cuts through the ghee and mustard oil.
- Mutton seekh kebabChar on the kebab meets the beer's dark malt, and the bitterness resets your palate after each fatty bite.
- Coorg pandi curryThe dark roasted masala matches the beer's cocoa note, and the kachampuli sourness and black pepper stand up to the hops.
- Gajar halwaThe halwa's sweetness and ghee soften the bitterness, while the dark malt picks up its caramelised edges.
Brewed in India
We could not verify an Indian brewery currently making a black ale or black IPA. It is the kind of beer that appears as a brewpub one-off, so ask at your local.