Friday, December 30, 2016

Ölbeat 161: Pyynikin Black IPA

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: India Black Ale
Abv: 8,5 %
@RateBeer
What about the beer?
Colour is black with a lasting fluffy finger-thick beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, sugary coffee and sweet chocolate. Taste begins with roasted bittersweet malts. Roasted-charred malts and slightly sweet coffee takes over with some dark chocolate in the background. Towards the end dry bitterness and dark fruit flavours get mixed to the taste. Aftertaste has roasted dryness and alcoholic citrus bitterness.

Black IPA is actually misleading in the name - this is closer to Porter or Stout. But a rather tasty one anyway. Roast, coffee and dark chocolate create a gloomy brew with rich and uncompromised flavours. There is some India Pale Ale style citrus in the aftertaste bitterness, though.

Ölbeat

Black, gloomy-themed brews seem to be the brews that make the brewers at Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo hit my soft spot. In autumn 2016, they released a limited edition Imperial Stout called Post Mortem, which was superb, too. With Black IPA we're not in the 'already dead' state, but thematically very near. As is the main character of this song.

My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade (YouTube)

From the 2006 album The Black Parade, the song was written by Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, Mikey Way and Bob Bryar.