St Andrews, Notorious BIPA

Here’s your cheat sheet for Notorious B.I.P.A. by St Andrews Brewing Co.

St Andrews Brewing Co, Notorious B.I.P.A. / Black IPA / 6.0% ABV / IBU not available

Featured in main subscriber box on 8 March 2018.

‘Black IPA’ isn’t the best name for a beer style, when you think about it. How can an India pale ale also be black? The problem is that no one’s come up with a better term. The IPA part is a nod to the hop-forward character of the style, and then we simply note that this style differs from a straight IPA because of its colour. Here’s some further reading on the style.

Find the brewery on Twitter at @standrewsbrewco and on Instagram at @standrewsbrewco.

Serving temperature

Serve this beer at 7°C to 10°C; at least an hour in the fridge, maybe up to 90 minutes.

As ever, be wary of over-chilling your beer. More chill means less flavour. To learn more read my post on recommended serving temperatures.

Flavours to expect

This is a very tricky one to try to pin down in advance. It’s hard to know where the balance will lie between the malts used to achieve the dark colour and the hops used for bitterness and aroma.

Online reviews mention flavours of blueberry, plum, coffee, lemon… They could be right, but how to be sure?

At least we know the hops used, which were:

• Cascade: lychees, floral, grapefruit
• Sorachi Ace: lemon, coconut
• Wai-iti: mandarin, lemon, lime zest

Food pairings

It’s pretty much impossible to cook up a food pairing without know which flavours we’re expecting. Having said that, I’m going to stick my neck out a little and suggest Black Forest Gateau, or in fact anything based on a chocolate and fruit combination.

Further info

Read more on this beer from BeerBods and St Andrews Brewing Co.