Brugge Brasserie - Black Ale

Brugge Brasserie – Black

ABV: 6.0%

IBU: 30

SRM / Coloring: jet black or dark ass brown

This probably has to be the best beer I’ve reviewed so far. Normally with darker beers there is an overpowering bitterness as with an Imperial stout or thickness like with a porter. But this bad boy pushes past those boundaries and personifies a smooth and rich dark beer that comes off clean.

The Brugge Black is a Belgian style black ale, which is infused with malts and other robust additives like chocolate to give it it’s dark flavors, but for whatever reason is not as dense or intense as porters or stouts. It’s a unique type of beer that I have yet to encounter from a micro-brewery around here, which speaks to the creativity of Brugge’s brewing team (this is a shout out to you Ted) as well as their broad range of beer options. Remarkably the Black has a big hit of chocolate roastiness, but then ends a little bit sweet with a hint of fruit…wtf.

It’s actually a shame that most people are scared off by darker beers, partially because they simply have never tried one that blew them away, and partially because they have an idea of what beer is and it isn’t dark. If you ask the people around Brugge what their best beer is, you’re undoubtedly gonna get those die hard Tripel de Ripple fans, but if you are interested in trying a super dope dark beer, go with the Black. I promise you’ll be more than surprised.

Broad Ripple Brew Pub - Monon Porter

Monon Porter
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: no idea, but it's pretty smooth, not too bitter
SRM / Coloring: malty rich brown





The Brew Pub's porter is a smooth and simple cask conditioned porter. For those of you who don't know, cask conditioned beers are unfiltered and unpasturized beers that are fermented twice in a separate tank, keg, or cask. As a result, they're naturally fermented and taste different than your traditional beer. If you ever go to a brewery and ask for one, you'll see the bartender pulling really hard on a large black handle, which literally uses pressure to suck the beer right our of the cask and into the glass. Pretty cool.

This porter is characteristically smooth for a cask conditioned beer, which could come from the lower amount of carbonation. It has a thick malty taste with subtle essences of coffee and chocolate, but it's a modest dark beer that would satisfy real lovers of malty beers as well as people just looking to try something new.