The Year in Beer

Name: Heavy Seas Black Cannon

Brewer: Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore, Md.

By the numbers: About 215 calories per 12 oz.; 7.25 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: This is the second Black IPA I’ve had this year, after the Samuel Adams Longshot pick Blackened Hops. I generally favor maltier beers over the hop-heavy IPAs, but the Black IPA style is one I can get behind. It balances all the hops with a porter-like body that’s full of mocha and chocolate flavors. Black Cannon is a late-winter change-up of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, which I enjoyed back in November. This one poured a rich, dark cola color with a thick tan head. It had a cocoa and floral aroma and was very boozy on first sip. The flavors were chocolate followed by a good dose of bitter hops.

Try it with: A growing admiration of both the Black IPA style and Heavy Seas beer. The style, a relatively new one, has raised some eyebrows among the craft-brewing elite. It is something of an oddity in name: How can a “pale” ale also be black? Anyway, the Brewers Association has officially labeled the style American-style India Black Ale, but many proponents of the style have pretty much ignored that name in favor of Black IPA. A beer by any other name would still taste great, right?

    — Posted by Mike Freimann