An oxymoron is a contradiction, hence the name of this beer and the style it is brewed in - its a Black IPA -a style that was fused in the USA and is being experimented with over here by a few breweries. Of course those Otley boys would be on the scene with this brew and the result is Oxymoron - an intense black beer I first tried at the Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival earlier this year and very quickly it became one of my favourite beers.
The Otley Brewery is not known for producing bland beers and their love of hops comes through in all their brews. Hoppy dark beers? Well that's the beauty of Black IPAs and we are very lucky in Wales to have such a great brewery producing award-winning brews. Not that this beer has won any yet, but that's just a matter of time.
The aroma: an earthy freshly harvested hop aroma, normally associated with lighter beers.
The flavour: rich dark chocolate melting in your mouth. Dehusked chocolate malt from Germany is used to brew this beer - the de-husking takes away the sometimes too harsh bitterness normally associated when using chocolate malt.
The aftertaste: rich chocolate and hop flavours linger pleasantly on the palette for a good few moments afterwards.
A truly stunning beer.
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wasn't totally convinced when i had it at the GWBCF, perhaps a half wasn't enough!
ReplyDeleteBlack IPA's i've had since have been pretty good, i'll have to give this another go.
Dammit, only made the GBBF this year and didn't see any Otley. Was a bit tipsy, mind. Did manage to have some at the Rake and that was quite nice. But that was the big one, the 7% job.
ReplyDeleteHad some cracking CDAs in Portland this year. Glad some guys back home are brewing them too, they can be terrible but if made right, bloody lovely.