Friday, October 07, 2011

Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet

Another beer from one of the newer breweries in the Texas Market, this one is an infamous Black Pale Ale. How can something be black and pale at the same time? A question for another day perhaps. This beer as all that are labeled as such are dark heavily hopped beers, this one especially so, weighing in at 80 IBU's.
The Beer: At 7% this is not overly high, nor is it a session ale, somewhere in the middle it pours a dark black with ruby streaks when held up to the light, capped with a taupe colored head of foam. The nose is chocolate, burnt coffee beans, roasted malts, and a whiff of citrus peel on the nose. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, lots of black patent malts here. Burnt malts before being walloped with hops. Citrus pith bitterness abounds on the tongue, but I keep going back to the malts that don't hide behind the hops. There is a chalky quality to it, a burnt malt taste to it as it warms up. This overly roasted quality gives some balance to the hops, however I could do without the chalky taste. This one gets a C+ from me.

2 comments:

joe said...

I really enjoy this brew. I am torn as to whether this or Tramp Stamp is my favorite Clown Shoes offering so far.

Glad to see the frequent postings nowadays. Thanks!

Barleyvine said...

I thought this was pretty good, the burnt notes were just a little too much for me. I've tried Eagle Claw fist and enjoyed it, haven't had Tramp Stamp yet, but I do have their Imperial Stout that I'll be trying this week.