Deschutes Hop in the Dark

I highly recommend to everyone on the East coast, if they haven’t already, to make friends with people on the West coast. At the very least, you’ll make out like a bandit in beer trades. While I have limited exciting beers to send westward, there is no shortage of interesting stuff coming from California, Oregon and Washington.

Now, Deschutes Brewing has been around for a very, very long time in beer years. I’ve enjoyed their staples, like the Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Obsidian Stout, Black Butte Porter, essentially the standard beer styles, for as long as I could find them, starting with a beer dinner in the city in the late 1990s. Nowadays, Deschutes is making strides in new ideas, and recently arrived at the pseudo style of “Cascadian Dark Ale” — a nod to their geography — which is essentially a hoppy, roasty beer.

I have to say it, though — “Cascadian Dark Ale” is currently failing as a name for a beer style. However, the rest of the country, having nothing to do with the Cascade Mountains and preferring useful, descriptive names, decided on “India Black Ale” — a play on the India Pale Ale style we all know and love — a long time ago. It’s marginally new as a style; there have been hoppy, strong dark beers for ages, like, say, Victory Storm King Stout or even Magic Hat Heart of Darkness, but the style is currently one of the trendiest out there. And Deschutes was early on the scene, brewing out of Bend, Oregon since the 1980s. So it makes sense to talk about it.

Fortunately, although Deschutes packages Hop in the Dark in a 22-ounce bottle, it’s “only” 6.5% alcohol by volume, so sharing isn’t too necessary. Let’s pop the cap.

Hop in the Dark pours black. Obsidian, to reuse a word. Onyx. Opaque black. Pouring even slowly yields a tight, dense tan head that looks like it was poured via nitro tap. The head lasts the whole glass, indeed the whole bottle. While there’s a ton of roasted barley in the nose, there’s a lot of piney-citric hop aroma in there.

There’s a ton more hop flavor in the citric vein — more lemony that anything else — as I start to sip, and it’s accompanied by a little bit of sourness, really, kind of like what Guinness gives me, but the sour maltiness moves to grapefruit and leafy herbs. There’s still a significant background bitterness, which you might assume from the rather high 70 IBUs listed on the label — IBUs are a rough measure of the bitterness of a beer from its hops, and 70 is fairly standard in the IPA range. Meantime, the beer is rather thick on the palate, and finishes with a little coffee, a little roastiness, and a little background bitterness. A little of everything, coming together to welcome me to try another sip. So I do, and the cycle repeats.

I like the Hop in the Dark perfectly well. It’s rather balanced between barley and hop, and it’s not over-the-top strong, so it’s easy to work my way through the whole bottle. And I don’t mind it — I looked up while watching television, and the bottle is empty, my glass nearly so, when I first look critically at my progress. Recommended? Sure, yes, but I wouldn’t fly to Oregon to drink it. On the East coast, several breweries have figured out the style, and in fact, Dogfish Head India Brown Ale did it first, and in my opinion best, over a decade ago. Victory Yakima Glory should be available as well, and frankly, drink a quality craft stout and enjoy yourself with that, without the hops — too many brewers use hops that clash with the roasted barley. 21st Amendment and Speakeasy, both from the West coast, also make credible versions of this style of beer.

This 22-ounce bottle runs about $8-$10 in the Pacific Northwest. I strongly recommend trying out Deschutes when you find yourself in their distribution area, but until then, content yourself with similar styles in the city. Ask your local beer-store person to recommend one!