Dark Prince Black IPA

Cooking up some din for the Bitter Wife and myself, listening to a podcast, we found ourselves with 12 minutes to spare, so I decided I had enough time to review Dark Prince Black IPA. This 6% Cascadian dark ale, made by the team at Manantler Craft Brewing Co., is literally the main reason that I decided on a beer mail order from this Bowmanville establishment—I love a black IPA and the art on the 500mL bottle is dark as hell. Had to have it.

Dark Prince has a dark colour, ruby highlights, and a sudsy cream head. It packs evergreen aromatics, floral bitterness, a whiff of spice, and roasted malts into a busy nose. The flavour is spicy and heartily piney. There are some understated sweet notes and roasted malt elements, but the bitter back half is the real story of this ale.

I thought this was a damned fine ale. I’d have liked it to be stronger—7% would have  changed the game and taken it to the next level. But otherwise, the beer ticked all of my black IPA boxes. The roasted caramel introduction sets the table, but doesn’t clutter the atmosphere and hang around too long. The back end is elite. This is good beer.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.