Autumnal 7 Seas IPA
This 7 Seas IPA is a “black wheat IPA crammed with 7 different ultrahops,” as the label spells it out. And let us say straight away that this wheat beer does not really taste like a wheat beer! It was a surprise for me, even if the case is not so unique if you think about it.
It’s been a while since we’ve found this type of beer on the craft-beer market, more specifically in the States, as a version of an already well-established style — I mean Black IPAs. Having said that, I think that I had tasted a black wheat IPA only once.
On the other hand, Siren Craft Brew is far from unknown (see “A Gem, by Siren,” for example). This excellent brewery launched in 2012 (Finchampstead, Berkshire, England) by Darron Anley set the bar very high. And this beer takes nothing away from that excellent record.
This 6%-ABV black wheat IPA is really splendid. Smooth, floral, a little resinous though chocolatey, slightly astringent, this beer is wonderfully complex with its seven different German hops. To make an extremely summary judgment, I would say that it does the splits between a stout and a IPA. And where does the wheat come in? Just forget it, and enjoy this success for the coming autumn…