Today I'm wrapping up my week of Uinta beers. Thus far, I've been quite impressed. Both with the fruity and excellent Hop Notch IPA and the subtle and sessionable Baba black lager. Today I'm taking a look at Dubhe, an imperial black IPA brewed with hemp seeds. I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what hemp seeds taste like. I have no idea what they'll do to the flavor of the beer. But a 9.2% ABV Imperial Black IPA, that sounds up my alley. To the beer!
Dubhe pours a deep black brew with pretty ruby highlights. I's topped by a tall sturdy layer of tan head made up of some pretty large bubbles.
The aromas are made up of big resinous hop notes backed by pungent hints of citrusy orange and grapefruit. After all of the hop aromas come some roasty notes of dark chocolate and a sweet toasty breadiness.
Dubhe is full bodied and very smooth. For all of that big dramatic head in the photograph up there the carbonation is pretty mild. It helps to create a very smooth, sort of viscous, oily mouthfeel. It leads with an oily, resinous dark fruit/ roasty chocolate character. Those flavors give way to notes of dry coffee and some bitter, dank, hoppiness along with yet some more fruity flavors. There are also some nice burnt smoky hints adding to the complexity. The ABV is pretty well hidden. For a beer north of 9% I was expecting something a little more intense on that front but the alcohol really only manifestes itself as a mild warming sensation. It finishes with a punch of even more fruity flavor and a lingering coffee hop bitterness.
Like I said before, I don't know hemp seeds, and I don't know what flavors they were imparting here. But whatever they are, it certainly worked. Uinta is three for three. They are certainly much more than a very pretty label. This is one quite tasty black IPA with a pretty unique fruitiness. Check this one out.
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