At the Parry Sound I was heartened by the abundance of 16oz cans, my own personal favorite serving vessel, in the craft beer section. Not a whole lot in the way of 12 oz bottles and cans, and even less in the way of bombers. As far as I recall, this one was the only one in the entire store. Well, at least it's the only one I bought: Tree Brewing Co.'s Hop Head Black IPA. I did a little bit of research online and it seems Hop Head is sort of the IPA line for Tree Brewing. There's also a standard and a double version. But what I have here today is the black. It's been a while since I've had a good black IPA. Let's get to it. To the beer!
Hop Head Black IPA pours just this side of a deep dark black. It's hazy and rich looking with subtle ruby chestnut highlights. A tall, frothy, resilient layer of tan head sits atop the beer. It's incredibly stubborn as it laces all the way down the glass.
There's a really interesting nose on this one. The bready roasty malt leads the way with intense notes of chocolate, coffee, and a bit of burnt sugar. Once you dig a bit deeper past all of the dark malt you uncover a subtle floral, herbal malt and some intriguing dark fruit notes of raisin and date.
Hop Head Black IPA is quite full bodied, almost what I'd call viscous. Resiny punchy hoppiness comes out swinging and gives way to huge malty flavors of syrpy, cakey chocolate and dark bitter coffee. Some more of those interesting dark fruity notes return before a long bitter finish.
This beer is pretty darn excellent. Big, intense, complex. I have no idea what the availability of Tree Brewing company is. I have no idea if you can get it in America at all. If you find it, or if you're in Canada, and you see it around, get it. It's excellent.
HD
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