Duck-Rabbit "Hoppy Bunny" Black Ale

Look, I'm as surprised as anyone that I've had is many black ales as I have. It's not the kind of beer that you run across every day. In fact, I don't remember ever seeing a black ale available in a bar. That said, I never really frequent bars, so maybe I'm just out of the loop. This appears to be my first beer from Duck Rabbit. I don't know if all of their beers are themed as either ducks or rabbits, but this one is a Hoppy Bunny. Very nice. Very clever. But how clever are they with their brewing? Let's take this ride together.

It says black on the bottle, and it pours pretty black. It's got a little red hue, but it's black enough. It produces quite a bit of head, and that immediately differentiates the look from a porter or a stout, and the unusually small and sticky bubbles leave lots of lacing in their wake. Aside from the color, so far it's looking like a good ale. The aroma is less like an ale than the head. It doesn't have much of an aroma, but what it has is very sweet malt with bitter cocoa added. If I were to guess from just the aroma and color, I would probably have pegged this as a black lager rather than an ale. That head is doing a lot of lifting so far.

First sip is not convincing me this is an ale. Dark chocolate, slight coffee, roasted nuts, and a little earth are all that I'm tasting. It says that this is supposed to be hoppy, but I don't taste any hops. I do taste some bitterness from the hops, so I guess that proves that they are there, but that's not really what I'm looking for in hops. In fact, this isn't what I'm looking for an ale. This isn't even what I'm looking for in a black ale. No, the first sip is not winning me over. However, a gulp might.

Tip-in is almost no carbonation with the dark chocolate, coffee, and roasted nuts (although, it's more like burned nuts). The middle blossoms into something more like what I wanted to taste; it still has the darkness that it started with, and a bitterness is added as the whole thing smooths out delightfully. The finish adds dryness to the bitterness as the nuts pleasantly take over from the coffee, but the coffee leaves an echo in its wake.

Bottom Line: Maybe the duck versions will be a little better.

2.25/5