IPA
Black IPA
An IPA with dark malt for colour and a light roast edge, keeping full citrus and pine hop character.
- Strength
- 5.5–9% ABV
- Bitterness
- 50–90 IBU
- Colour
- Very dark brown to black
- Serve at
- 8–11°C
Also known as Cascadian dark ale, India black ale.
Commercial category. A marketing or shorthand term that behaves like a style. Useful for finding beer; treat its boundaries as loose.
The name is a contradiction — a black pale ale — and there has never been agreement on it; "Cascadian dark ale" was proposed as an alternative and is still used in the Pacific Northwest. BeerHQ records it as a commercial category rather than an established style because both its name and its boundaries remain unsettled.
Brewers typically use dehusked dark malt, which gives colour with far less of the acrid bitterness that ordinary black malt would contribute — important when the beer already carries 60+ IBU of hops.
A good one gives colour and a light roast edge without the acrid bite that would fight the hops, which is exactly what dehusked malt is for. The characteristic failure is an ordinary black malt used at ordinary rates, producing a beer where roast harshness and hop bitterness compound into something simply astringent. If it tastes like a hoppy stout, it has missed.
Questions this page answers
- what does black ipa taste like — How it tastes
- black ipa abv — Measurements
- black ipa food pairing — What to eat with it
- black ipa serving temperature — Serving
- how long does black ipa last — Freshness and storage
- styles similar to black ipa — If you like this, try
- how to brew black ipa — How it is made
How it tastes
BeerHQ’s own comparative scale, not a measurement. Each bar is a range because a style is a span of real beers rather than one beer.
Appearance and character
| Colour | Very dark brown to black |
|---|---|
| Clarity | clear |
| Head | Tan, dense |
| Fermentation | Top-fermented (ale). Fermented warm with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which collects at the surface. Warmer fermentation produces more esters and phenols, so ales tend to carry more fruit and spice from the yeast itself. |
| Origin | United States (From the 1990s in the United States, and marketed in the Pacific Northwest as Cascadian dark ale) |
Measurements
Conventional ranges published by style bodies, not a specification. IBU measures iso-alpha acids in a lab and does not track perceived bitterness — compare it against the sensory scale above rather than reading it as a flavour rating.
| Measurement | Typical range |
|---|---|
| ABV | 5.5–9% ABV |
| IBU | 50–90 IBU |
| Colour | Very dark brown to black — 25–40 SRM, 49–79 EBC. |
| Original gravity | 1.050–1.085 |
| Final gravity | 1.010–1.018 |
| Carbonation | 2–3 vol CO₂ |
What goes into it
| Hops | Columbus, Chinook, Simcoe, Centennial |
|---|---|
| Malt | Pale ale malt, Carafa (dehusked roasted malt), Crystal malt |
| Yeast | American ale yeast |
Serving
| Temperature | 8–11°C |
|---|---|
| Glass | Tulip glass |
Freshness and storage
Black IPA shows best within 1–4 months of packaging. After that it declines in quality rather than becoming unsafe.
Drink fresh. Buy it as young as you can and drink it soon. What makes this beer worth drinking is the first thing to leave it.
- Built on hop aroma, which is the least durable thing in beer. What you are paying for is the first thing to leave.
What changes with time
- Flavour decline. The beer is still perfectly sound, but the most volatile parts of its character have faded. Weeks to a few months, fastest in heavily dry-hopped beer.
- Staling. The general, gradual loss of freshness that affects all beer, accelerated sharply by warmth. Months, and roughly twice as fast for every 10 °C warmer.
In the package
- Aluminium can — No light can reach the beer, so lightstrike is impossible in this format. Very low oxygen ingress, which matters for a beer this dependent on hop aroma.
- Brown glass bottle — No format-specific concerns beyond the general advice above.
- Keg — No light can reach the beer, so lightstrike is impossible in this format. Very low oxygen ingress, which matters for a beer this dependent on hop aroma.
Old beer tastes worse; it does not become dangerous. Ethanol, low pH, hop compounds and the absence of oxygen make packaged beer hostile to the organisms that cause foodborne illness. The exception is a compromised package — visible mould at the closure, a pierced or rusted can, a lifted cap — which is a reason to discard the beer regardless of its age.
Guidance, not an expiry date. How a beer is stored matters more than the date printed on it, and staling roughly doubles in rate for every 10 °C. See storage and freshness for the full model.
What to eat with it
- Aubergine
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
- Roast beef
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
- Tagine
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
- Jacket potato
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
- Liver and onions
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
- Paella
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
If you like this, try
American IPA
The same hop approach without the dark malt.
Suits you if: You like Black IPA but want more tropical fruit. Reason not to: Noticeably more tropical fruit than Black IPA, which not everyone wants.
American stout
A comparable hoppy dark beer where roast leads instead of hops.
Suits you if: You like Black IPA but want more malt intensity. Reason not to: Noticeably more malt intensity than Black IPA, which not everyone wants.
West Coast IPA
Same family — both are IPA beers.
Suits you if: You like Black IPA but want less roast. Reason not to: The main shift is less roast, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Cold IPA
Same family — both are IPA beers.
Suits you if: You like Black IPA but want less alcohol warmth. Reason not to: The main shift is less alcohol warmth, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Belgian IPA
Same family — both are IPA beers.
Suits you if: You like Black IPA but want more yeast fruitiness (esters). Reason not to: Noticeably more yeast fruitiness (esters) than Black IPA, which not everyone wants.
Compare with
- Black IPA vs American IPA — The main difference is roast: Black IPA has noticeably more of it than American IPA. American IPA also leads on tropical fruit, malt intensity and yeast fruitiness (esters).
- Black IPA vs Milkshake IPA — The main difference is bitterness: Black IPA has far more of it than Milkshake IPA. Black IPA also leads on roast and resin & pine; Milkshake IPA on tropical fruit.
- Black IPA vs English IPA — The main difference is roast: Black IPA has noticeably more of it than English IPA. Black IPA also leads on resin & pine; English IPA on malt intensity and yeast fruitiness (esters).
- Black IPA vs Belgian IPA — The main difference is yeast fruitiness (esters): Belgian IPA has far more of it than Black IPA. Black IPA also leads on roast and coffee; Belgian IPA on phenolic spice.
Faults to watch for
- Faded hop character — The specific staling of hop character: the aroma fades first, and badly stored hops can turn cheesy.
- Astringency — A drying, tannic harshness from over-extracted grain husk — the classic sign of sparging too hot, too long or at too high a pH.
How it got here
A dark beer hopped like an IPA, using debittered roasted malts so the colour arrives without the acrid roast that would fight the hops. The technique is older than the category name.
The usual account is disputed. Two accounts compete. One traces the beer to Vermont in the 1990s; the other credits the Pacific Northwest, where it was promoted as "Cascadian dark ale" — a name pushed partly on the argument that a black India *pale* ale is a contradiction. Neither account is settled, and the disagreement is as much regional pride as chronology.
How it is made
The steps that shape this style in particular, rather than the ones every beer goes through.
- Roasting — Take malt or raw grain to high temperature in a rotating drum to produce the deep colours and roast flavours of porter, stout and dark lager.
- Dry hopping — Add hops to beer after fermentation, without heat, to extract aroma compounds while adding essentially no bitterness.
Sensory levels are BeerHQ’s editorial abstraction, described as None–Very high on a six-point scale. Measurements are conventional style ranges. Last reviewed 2026-08-15.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
On Astringency
Astringency is a tactile sensation caused by polyphenols binding salivary proteins, and is distinct from bitterness, which is a taste detected by chemoreceptors rather than felt.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print; Tasting Beer (2nd edition) — print
On Astringency
Tannin extraction from grain husks rises sharply when sparge water is too hot, too alkaline or continued to very low runnings gravity, which is why brewers stop sparging at a target gravity rather than rinsing the bed dry.
Backed by a source
Sources: How to Brew (4th edition) — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print
On Centennial
The USDA collection records Centennial at 9–12% alpha acids, 4–5% beta acids, 28–32% cohumulone and 2.83 ml/100 g total oil.
Checked against the source
Source: USDA-ARS World Hop Cultivar Collection, Accession 21507 (Centennial), analysis
On Centennial
Centennial is routinely described as a stronger Cascade, but Cascade is not in its pedigree: it descends from Brewer’s Gold, Fuggle and East Kent Golding lines, and the resemblance is convergence rather than parentage.
Checked against the source
Source: USDA-ARS World Hop Cultivar Collection, Accession 21507 (Centennial), pedigree
On Centennial
Centennial keeps poorly: the USDA collection records it losing more than half its alpha acids after six months stored at room temperature.
Checked against the source
Source: USDA-ARS World Hop Cultivar Collection, Accession 21507 (Centennial), storage stability
On Chinook
Chinook comes from a Petham Golding crossed with a Brewer’s Gold line, and the USDA collection records it at around 13.6% alpha acids, 3.9% beta, 33% cohumulone and 1.83 ml/100 g total oil.
Checked against the source
Source: USDA-ARS World Hop Cultivar Collection, Accession 21226 (Chinook), pedigree and analysis
On Crystal malt
Crystal malt is produced by stewing wet germinated grain so that starch converts to sugar inside the husk, then kilning so that sugar caramelises in place — which is what distinguishes it from ordinary kilned malt.
Backed by a source
Sources: Malt: A Practical Guide from Field to Brewhouse — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print
On Crystal malt
Crystal malt contributes sugars that brewing yeast largely cannot ferment, which is why it adds residual sweetness and body rather than alcohol.
Backed by a source
Sources: Malt: A Practical Guide from Field to Brewhouse — print; How to Brew (4th edition) — print
On Tulip glass
An inward-curving rim concentrates volatile aromatics in the headspace above the beer, which is a real and measurable effect and the only glassware mechanism with a straightforward physical basis.
Backed by a source
Sources: Tasting Beer (2nd edition) — print; Institute of Brewing & Distilling technical publications
On Dry hopping
Hops carry amylolytic enzymes that break down dextrins the brewing yeast could not ferment, so heavy dry hopping can restart fermentation in the package — lowering final gravity, raising alcohol, generating additional carbon dioxide and regenerating diacetyl.
Backed by a source
Sources: Journal of the Institute of Brewing; For the Love of Hops — print
On Faded hop character
How hops are stored dominates how much of them survives: in a two-year trial, alpha-acid losses ran from roughly 12–36% under cold anaerobic storage to 63–99% in air at room temperature.
Checked against the source
Source: Rutnik et al., "The Stability of Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Resins during Long-Period Storage" (2023), Section 2.1, Alpha-Acids; Table 1 (Plants 12(4):936)