The Thorny Goat

You could have some fun with this one. Grab a mate, pour them a glass and offer it up without warning. Practically black, shot through with blood red tints if held to the light, and with a hint of tan in its head, they'll be certain they're about to tuck into a porter or lighter bodied stout. At this point, we should point out that this will work better if said mate has no sense of smell or a bad cold at the time, as otherwise the pretense will collapse well before the drink enters their mouth thanks to the heady aroma of tropical fruits and resiny hops flying off in all directions. That's because this Mountain Goat / Thornbridge (UK) collaboration has captured the Black IPA style with real panache. Totally hop led - using Southern Hemisphere varieties to try and create a New World version of Thornbridge's Raven beer - but not at the expense of balance, the only time the flavours you'd associate with such a dark beer appear is right at the end, where a touch of roasty bitterness assimilates itself with that from the hops in a beer that deserves to excite craft beer lovers across Australia.

Published March 11, 2011 2011-03-11 00:00:00