Oh my, the Black Dahlia! Prior to the story that appears below this post, I had the luxury of tasting the IEBC's new (to me) brew. It is described as a Dark Belgian Strong Ale. I found this to be similar to a Belgian Dubbel. I really like this brewery. They are quite new on the Southern California beer scene, and since I got my Bachelor's Degree from University of California, Riverside, I feel I have a close connection to everything in the IE. That's right, I called it that. Anyways, every-so-often when I stroll into Hollingsheads, they have a beer from these guys on tap. I remember I had a porter (right?), which was delicious. I remember I tried the Vanilla Victoria, which since I only had a taste could not effectively evaluate. However, today I was struck by the Black Dahlia.
Photo courtesy of IEBC's Facebook page
It had a dark amber color to it with a thick, khaki colored head that sat on top of my beer for a minute or two. As it diluted down, it had subtle lacing around the top of the glass. Aromas? Lots of toffee and caramel coming off the nose with some candied notes as well. After swirling it in the glass for a while to let it warm up and get all the aromas out of it, it tasted similar to how it smelled. Caramel, toffee, sweet malts, and some alcohol with a slightly bitter/dry finish. As it was cold, I thought it was good but there was nothing too special about it. On the other hand, I am no fool so I wrapped my hands around the goblet and let this guy warm up.
Once it was warmer and closer to room temperature, this guy perked up. While I could taste the alcohol a bit more as it warmed, I was quite content with it because something new appeared. Spice. I started to taste some delicious spices that I quite honestly could not put my finger on. The spices really balanced out the flavors and made this beer extremely enjoyable to drink. For 9.5% ABV, this guy is pretty good. A tad bit on the sweet side, but a little sweet never hurt anybody. I am curious as to whether there was some sort of special barrel involved in this beer.
Overall, a great beer but let him warm up before you finish him. I definitely look forward to trying more brews from the Inland Empire Brewing Company. Well done guys.
