by Browar Pinta
I don’t think I’ve ever had a Black American Pale Ale before, so I was really looking forward to tasting this beer from Pinta.
Through 2023, Pinta made a series of one-off beers that they called ‘Pinta of the Month’, all designed to be session beers. This beer is the December offering, and they decided to make something interesting but still to spec.
Thinking about the style, I was expecting the same fruity or flora hop aroma that you get from a normal pale ale, with some roasted malt character from the dark malt, finishing with a good level of bitterness.
And you know what? That’s pretty much what we’ve got.
There is a moderately fruity aroma, with the dark roasted malt in behind. To taste, there is a quick hit of sweetness right up front, which quickly gives in to the roasted malt astringency giving off those really dark chocolate notes.
The beer is bittered with the experimental hop HBC 630, and then dry hopped with El Dorado and Pacific Sunrise hops. There is a good level of hop bitterness and the dry hopping gives some tropical fruit character that you have to look for a little bit but is definitely there. It is a nice beer, with loads of flavour bit still light and sessionable.