Longshot Blackened Hops
12oz bottle poured into a New Belgium globe. A: Pours black with a huge khaki head. Crazy retention, sticky rings of lacing. S: Coffee, chocolate, leafy herbal hops, pine, and mandarin orange. T: Malty flavors and some raisin esters up front. Good roasted malt presence. Coffee and a bit of smoke. Bitter dark chocolate. Herbal hops with perhaps a touch of mint. Big hit of pine. Some mandarin orange. Finishes with strong notes of coffee and char. M: Medium bodied, creamy, and full. Good. O: Good roasted malt flavors, but they overwhelmed the hops. Notes: The bottle says that the hop flavors steal the show. I disagree. Roasted malt tastes dominate. There is clearly a significant amount of IBUs at work here, but the roasted malt character is so assertive that the hop tastes end up playing second fiddle. I'm also picking out an estery raisin taste in the background. It feels a little out of place. A decent beer, but a little unbalanced.