Black IPA vs Janet's Brown Ale

[Kazi the Younger]

I'll be brewing one or the other soon - so far I'm leaning towards JBA.

I've brewed the 1.066, 60 IBU version of Janet's before and thought it was delicious, perhaps a bit too much centennial d-hop when drinking it fresh (all I ever do). I tuned down the Centennial with some cascade and it became more quaffable right out of the gate.

On the Black IPA side of the fence, I've only had Stone's Self Righteous Ale and Victory's Yakima Twilight - both 8.7% ABV - much bigger then I care to brew. I acknowledge they are good beers, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the Citrus and Pine mingling with Roast character. I think I prefer more the caramel chocolate character mingling with pine and woodsy character of JBA.

After a pint of Black IPA, I just sort of want to grab a good IPA instead. When I drink JBA, I feel like I'm drinking a unique style - A nice hoppy american brown ale that I can stick with for many pints. Anyone else feel this way?

Is it fair to say that Black IPA is basically a strong IPA with some roast and maybe some darker caramalts? I don't know, Victory's tastes to me like a scaled up Hop Devil with roast, and Stone's is kind of like Arrogant bastard with some chocolate and roast.

Is it worth persuing brewing a black IPA in the 1.066 range, or should I just stick with something like JBA? Another part of me wants to tackle more of a Dry Stout/IPA kind of like THree Floyds Black Sun Stout - now that one to me a great interplay of roast malt and hops, and lower gravity too!

[Mylo]

Fuck Black IPA... It's a stupid "style". Janet's Brown all the way....


Mylo

[LukeD23]

I love Stones Sublimly Self-Rightous, but that has been about the only black IPA I have enjoyed. I have had the 2-1-A Back in Black and it is ok, but its lower alcohol. I would say, at least in my opinion, Black IPAs need the higher alcohol to be really good. I brewed a 8% abv version and loved it. It was very well recieved by friends as well. I bottled it though, just to big to be on tap.

Janets on the other hand is def. a 2-3 pinter.

Both good, if you are going to brew a lower alcohol Black IPA use a good amount of Carafa III and dry hop the hell out of it. Either way you are gonna have a damn good beer on tap.

[TastyMcD]

.....Janets on the other hand is def. a 2-3 pinter.....

That describes the JBA exactly. It's hoppy yet malty (balanced) so there's no palate fatigue.

Fuck Black IPA... It's a stupid "style". Janet's Brown all the way....

Mylo

I've tried a lot of Black IPAs. Mylo and I have apparently come to the same conclusion. I just don't like their muddled hop expression from the excessive roast.

Tasty

[thatguy314]

Too all naysayers of the Black IPA, I"ll admit, I haven't liked most black IPAs I've had so far. However, when I was in Michigan I dropped an ungodly $18.99 on a sixpack of Bell's 10000th brew, a black (brown really) DIPA. It was worth it. The roast and hops are perfectly in harmony and it's de-frickin-licious.

Just because most examples are crap, doesn't mean the style itself is a failure. Sometimes it takes a while for people to figure out the real tricks to get the right balance of flavors. For a while, most double/imperial IPAs I had sucked, because they didn't understand the balance and importance of drying it out and getting a real crisp clean expression of hops. Just because a lot of people can't do it well, doesn't mean it can't be good.

[TastyMcD]

What's your second favorite Black IPAsince Bell's 10000th is not a Black IPA. Here's the recipe: http://beernews.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Batch-10000-Ingredients.pdf

Tasty

[andy77]

161 ingredients? I thought schmalts was nuts with their 13 malts and 13 hops.

[brewerTristan]

Holy shit! That recipe reads like the inventory of a homebrew shop. What an earth would that taste like?