Blackstone "Adam Bomb" IPA

It wasn't until I moved to the great state of Tennessee that I even heard the phrase "high gravity" as it pertains to beer. Someone made a delineation between what was considered acceptable beers for the masses and beers that just had too much alcohol in them. If I recall correctly, it was 6.2% ABV. Beer with an alcohol percentage lower than that could be sold in certain venues, but high gravity beers were more heavily restricted. This appears to be Blackstone's first attempt at a beer with a 7.3% ABV.

Unlike most of the beers that I seem to get with growlers, this one has enough head to impress upon the consumer that this is a beer. That head boils down to a giant lily pad of tiny bubbles covering most of the top of the beer, but there's an intriguing separation between that pad and the more concentrated bubbles around the sides of the glass. The copper tones of the beer and lack of lacing make me question if they colored inside the lines when they were deciding what kind of IPA to make. The aroma is distant and demure, but sweet malt mixing with pine inevitably floats up from the top of the beer to my nose.

First sip is, indeed, more malt heavy than an IPA would normally be. The caramel malt is relatively sweet, but it clashes with the pine resin to create a dryness after the beer is gone. As a first sip, it's inoffensive, but I struggle to see why Blackstone would think that this differentiates them as a brewery from their significant and skilled local competition. Depending on the price, location, and intent of the drinker, maybe this would be a viable local option, but a sip is not revealing why one would be motivated to purchase this otherwise.

Tip-in is caramel sweetness atop a clashing pine resin undertoe with carbonation missing in action. The middle continues the caramel malt, but some citrus can be seen through the haze, and the sweetness of the malt appears to be winning over top of the hops. The finish is where a sudden dryness falls on top of the beer featuring pine and fruit rind mix with burnt brown sugar for the trail off.

Bottom Line: It's perfectly all right.

2.25/5