The awesome Brazil-based OverHop Brewing was one of the most popular beer booths for my buddies over at Mondial de la Bière in 2017.. So when they announced they were going to be brewing in Canada, many of my friends in Quebec were giddy.. but for me, I'll only be able to source it when I'm in Quebec or if a beer buddy sends me some, like their One Love. In Quebec, they brew at the Brasserie & Distillerie Oshlag so they can make great fresh beer regularly.. and with that, they won gold at this year's Canadian Brewing Awards for American-style Black Ale for their DarkHop Black IPA.
It's been a while since Black IPAs were popular, I remember the trend in the early 2010s when there was an argument over Black IPA vs Cascadian Dark IPA.. but people eventually just shrugged and moved on to another style.
OverHop's DarkHop Black IPA's label's description: "Wouldn't it be great to be in more than one place at the same time? We invite you to a trip to 2 different worlds that blend together. Enjoy the complexity of a great Stout mixed with a citrus aroma from hops. Buckle up and enjoy!"
Appearance: The head is massive on this beer and it doesn't go anywhere until when I start writing a great deal about this beer - it's a very liberal amount of a burnt cookie dough yellowish-brown head, with a porter/stout-like dark as the night body to it, like molasses but not thick at all.
Aroma: This review is making me relive my my former Cranky Beer Blogger life a million years ago - it reminds me of back when I reviewed Flying Monkeys' Netherworld Cascadian Dark Ale way back in 2011. This beer is rich, sweet, a bit molassesy, with a moderate amount of roasted malt profile to it. It certainly does have a hop presence to it.. a bit of a pine and woodiness to it that pairs well with the rich dark notes of this beer. Lots of chilled cocoa beverage at the end, nice and sweet.
Taste: Very earthy with notes of peat, molasses, a moderate amount of bitterness of various types of hops to give it a bit of a piney flavour, as well as a bit of woodiness, a sweet caramel presence, a light grassiness that pops out from literally nowhere. There's a bit of coffee to it, a bit of dark chocolate, as well as cocoa.. but this has a lot of flavours from all over. Bit tinny for aftertaste but with a bit of a bitter aftertaste that lingers for a while
Overall Thoughts: Hmm... I honestly haven't had a beer like this for a few years now - it definitely reminds me of when Cascadian Dark Ales were a big thing in Canada. It's rich, roasty but also has a lot of floral and bitter hops to it, as well as a bit of a woodiness, a bit of caramel, cocoa and coffee. When I bought this beer, I didn't realize that this was the CBA Gold Medal Beer, I was just excited to try a new OverHop beer - it brings me back memories of the old Black IPAs/Cascadian Dark Ales I knew when I was just a nobody (Ha! I'm still a nobody!) Nice and rich, I'd love to drink this in the autumn or winter, but absolutely satisfying needless to say. 7% ABV
http://www.overhop.com/
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