Tag Archives for Thornbridge Raven

Thornbridge Raven Black IPA vs. Jon’s home-brewed “Troublemaker” Cascadian Dark Ale

20140122_191844Troublemaker on the left, Raven on the right.  Colour isn’t everything, though…

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Then, methought, the aroma grew denser – perfumed by an unseen censer
enriched by sensuous malt and hop that knocked me to the tufted floor
“Raven!” I cried, “Thy God has lent thee and courtesy of Westholme Stores has sent thee”
“Respite; respite and nepenthe from memory of beers that bore!”
“Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget those beers of yore!”
Quoth the Raven “Evermore…”

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…once he slows down from the 2,000 or so RPM that he must have achieved in his grave, I hope that Edgar Allen Poe can find it in what remains of his – by now dusty – heart to accept my sincere apologies.

I got to try Thornbridge Raven Black IPA last night – which was exciting, but as if that wasn’t exciting enough, I also ran it up against my own Troublemaker CDA just to see if my handiwork was anywhere near the mark:

Appearance

Raven: Deepest garnet when help up to the light, and blackest black when not.  A fabulous creamy head

Troublemaker: Miraculously, bang-on for colour and head.  Promising…

Aroma

Raven: An avalanche of dank hops teeter on the edge of a long drop into darkly enticing malts.  Perfectly balanced on the knife edge between hops and malt.  Revelatory.

Troublemaker: Hops nowhere near as prominent as Raven.  Dark malts win out by a country mile.  This is where the lack of things like a hop-back or hop-rocket show-up.  Needs way more hop aroma.

Taste and Mouth-feel

Raven: Resinous, dank and vivid hop flavours explode over a dark malt undercurrent.  A solid malt body with a nice 6.6% ABV contributes to a decent mouth-feel whilst a satisfying bitterness provides air-cover for further random attacks of hop flavour through the swallow.

Troublemaker: Some Cascade hoppiness vies with -and probably loses out to, if I’m honest- a roast malt background.  The hop flavour fades quite quickly to be replaced with that nice, but certainly not to style, dark malt.  A decent-enough bitterness prevails at the swallow and offers a few glimpses of the residual hoppiness.  At 5.3% I also think it’s a bit thin and needs an extra 1% heft.

Raven has definitely shown me what needs to change in the Troublemaker recipe: a ton more hops, a longer hop stand and way more dry-hopping.  It also needs more bitterness and a more alcohol.  But saying all of that, it’s eminently drinkable – although clearly not a Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale.   Maybe I’ve invented a new style: Indian Dark Porter?

But, holy cow, black IPA is where it’s at; I’m liking it a lot and Raven is excellent and very much a beer that I’ll be returning to -and trying to brew myself- again and again.

Wild Raven: http://www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/beers.php

Troublemaker: https://yeastismybitch.com/2013/11/28/troublemaker-ccda-in-a-braumeister/