Mountain Standard is indeed a Black IPA, not a CDA. The press release says "Named for the time zone in which the brewery resides, Mountain Standard Double Black IPA features hops grown on Colorado’s western slope." Not only is Odell playing off the geographical debate that's taking place by naming their beer after our time zone, but they've specifically used hops from this time zone, not from the Pacific NW.
There is a difference between the hops grown in the Pacific NW and the hops grown in other areas. Hops in the Pacific NW can produce really distinct aromas and flavors that are dank, piney, as well as grapefruity. I've found that a proper CDA will have these types of hops in them and that's when the style is at it's very best. The style is not just a gimmick, it's a beautiful combination of roasted malt and piney hops. If a beer doesn't utilize those specific hops then we can call it a Black IPA, no problem, but it's not going to taste the same as a true CDA. I came to this conclusion when I was talking with a British guy on some homebrew site. He was telling me that CDA's are a gimmick. He said he brewed his own version but because those hops were scarce he ended up using some substitutes from across the pond and then claimed 'It just tastes like a porter with extra hops!' That's when it hit me, a CDA is indeed it's own style, if you ever drink a Hopworks Secession, you'll know what I'm talking about. I brought the Secession out to Scotland and let some beer folks try it, and it was their favorite out of 11 different West Coast beers.
All this to say that I think Mountain Standard Black IPA is not only a fitting name but it's also a clever play on geography. As you know through my production of Beers Made By Walking I'm very interested in the idea of 'indigenous beers' (as Jeff from Beervana puts it) where the landscape itself can influence the way a certain locale makes a beer and therefore new styles or ideas emerge. I wonder if using Colorado hops in Black IPA's will catch on? And if so, maybe we could give it a distinction of Mountain Standard Dark Ale, or Rocky Mountain Dark Ale?
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I read the article you linked and have to give my opinion on this. First off I do not care for the style. I have yet to have a beer of this style that had any balance. I was excited to try the style thinking it would live up to the name Black IPA, rich malty flavor with a robust hop character. I have been disappointed at least 6 times.
ReplyDeleteThat being said i still think the debate surrounding the name has merit. For me the semantics involved do matter. A beer cannot be both Black and Pale as the name Black IPA suggest. I understand using the term IPA as a vehicle acknowledging the use of large quantities of hops but that is not always the case. A true English IPA has a lower hop quality than an American IPA and we all know this when choosing one of the two. Using IPA as a generic term to mean a bunch of hops is a disservice to the art of brewing. I disagree with the use of CDA as well. You and others have made the case against it. We are hundreds of years from having a city or region claim a beer style. Back when seasons and crops mattered that was the case but I can get grain, hops, yeast, and water from every inch of the world and brew it anywhere. No need to brew Kolsch in Koln, I can do it in Colorado Springs.
For me the beer style is neither Cascadian nor an India Pale Ale, it is a double hoped Porter. The problem here is too often we in the beer community need to label beer with catchy names rather than describe them. Why does every craft brewery have a unique name for every beer? Why can’t they name the beer by the style or description for those that don’t conform to an established style rather than after their dog or girlfriend?
~ShoeBrew
Hey ShoeBrew,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts. First I'd like to say that I really appreciate your analysis of the term 'Black IPA.' I've heard people say how can a pale ale be black, which I haven't cared much for that argument but putting in terms of history and it being a disservice to the term 'pale ale' is a more interesting consideration. I'll need to think on that for a while.
By the way, I do advocate for the term CDA, so long as the beer was made with specific hop varieties from the Pacific NW. The multiple beers that I've had that do fit into those guidelines (what I would call a true CDA) in fact have been most wonderful. Many breweries don't add these types of hops and therefore don't get that nice combination of subtle roast and piney hops. I've had tons of examples that I could care less for. In fact, I've enjoyed far less of them than I have had positive experiences with them. But when you get a good one, you'll be really happy.
In terms of naming individual beers, I'm not seeing a connection to this post. Nevertheless, naming a beer is part of creating a brand identity both for the brewery and for each individual beer. I appreciate it when a name tells me something about the beer but I also don't mind clever names like Mirror Pond, Fat Tire, and Mountain Standard. I think the name of a beer is really important and if it's going to be a beer that you create more and more of you need to come up with a name that truly suits the beer. Bridgeport used to name their beers with strange names and then changed their branding so that it was just "Bridgeport IPA" "Bridgeport Stout" etc. and after a few years of that they went back to naming their beers in interesting ways again. There's a really good blog whose author has spent some good time mulling over these things at:
http://thedailypull.com
http://craftedsocialmedia.com/