You may remember Deschutes Brewery as being the makers of my favorite beer, The Abyss. Big news- it's back! It should be coming in very soon so look for a review of that one in the near future. Also, Deschutes is about to release a Belgian sour style ale called The Dissident, so look for that very soon as well. I love Deschutes.
Alright, so moving on. A few weeks ago, I tried one of Deschutes more interesting offerings- Hop in the Dark. The beer labels itself a new style of beer- the Cascadian Dark Ale. I figured it was worth a try, so I picked it up at a local Bristol Farms.
The beer pours a very dark color (not quite The Abyss-dark, but close. Sorry, I'm kind of stuck on The Abyss right now.) with a foamy mocha head and nice lacing. The smell is really not what I expected. This beer looks like a stout but smells like an IPA. The nose is nothing but fresh hops. I was definitely curious as to what it could possibly taste like.
So, looks like a stout, smells like an IPA and tastes like...both! What a strange beer. There are a lot of hops in this beer, but not to the point of an IPA. Along with the hops are flavors of roasted malts, dark chocolate and coffee. To tell the truth, the taste reminded me a bit of a Guinness, which was a little strange for me.
Overall, this beer is full of contradictions that somehow seem to work together. The beer looks like a dark beer should, but the mouthfeel is like a lager. The beer smells like an IPA, but tastes closer to a porter. It's kind of a cool beer and definitely worth a try if you're ready to be confused the hell out of.
Final Grade: B+
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