Frederick India Black by New England Brewing

Black IPA’s may not be everyone’s cup of tea (or beer as it were).  Personally, I do tend to enjoy them if they’re well made. However, finding a really good black IPA is no easy task.  Frederick India Black from Uralla’s New England Brewing in northern New South Wales is one of the most well-done black IPA’s I think I’ve ever had.

As I alluded to earlier, the black IPA can be one of the more debate-inspiring beer genres out there.  The fact that it’s an attempt to fuse two distinctly dissimilar beer varieties means that it’s an extremely difficult balance to get right (while I lack the practical brewing know-how to confirm that this is the case, I’m basing my opinion on the amount of average, to less-than-great black IPA’s on the market).  Most black IPA’s tend to go too far one way or the other.  So it’s either there’s a dark ale with a buried kick of hops trying to fight its way through, or it’s a hoppy IPA with an additional deep rich flavour that jars with the overall hoppy profile.

Frederick, however, is a black IPA that strikes that elusive balance just right.  Most importantly, it doesn’t go overboard with the black component.  There’s just a solid but subtle level of roasted maltiness, that even borders slightly on coffee-ish.  However, far from clashing, it actually complements the excellent base hoppiness.  First and foremost, this is an IPA, which is very apparent from the first sip.  But the roastiness adds a hint of depth to the flavour and expertly accents the punchy hops.

As this is an IPA, it rolls in at a fairly robust 6.4%.  But it doesn’t necessarily taste like a particularly alcoholic beer.  I also wouldn’t necessarily class it as a typically ‘sessionable’ beer. However, I would say that it did disappear from my glass at a fairly brisk rate.

With the amount of not-so-good black IPA’s out there, I totally understand why a number of my beer-loving friends are not sold on the black IPA as a genre.  But when you come across a beer like Frederick India Black, it’s pleasantly and abundantly clear that it’s a style that can work and work well.  So you just have to find a brewery that’s clever enough to strike the right balance.  It turns out, there’s one about halfway between Tamworth and Armidale.