Departed Soles A Dark Night Black IPA

Departed Soles Brewing: A Dark Night Black IPA

Gluten Free Beer In New Jersey

I’m going to be honest. I’m pretty excited about this one. A Dark Night Black IPA is brewed by Departed Soles Brewing in New Jersey. This brewery has quickly climbed the charts as one of the best east coast brewery options for Celiacs. I’ve reviewed many other gluten free brews of theirs including the None Shall Path Pale Ale, the GoodbIPA, the Brrr-Berry Winter Ale (Patron review!), and the Bumper Hops IPA.

They are not a dedicated facility, but they take great care in their brewing and containment practices to ensure that Celiacs can safely consume their gluten free beers. I’ve been making my way through some of their GF options, and I have to say—Departed Soles is pretty damn good at brewing gluten free beer.

Tonight’s brew, A Dark Night Black IPA, has a 5% ABV and is released as a rotating seasonal. Unlike most of the other Departed Soles beers I’ve tried, this beer seems to be brewed on a sorghum base. It also utilizes Sinamar, a gluten free natural mashed coloring derived from debittered Carafa Special 11 black malt. It brings the dark color, without the roast.

The Taste Test

A Dark Night Black IPA

Departed Sole’s A Dark Night Black IPA may be the sexiest sorghum-based beer I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been happier to have actually gotten the glass beer clean. Check out this pour. The head is incredible…and it lasts forever.

The color is espresso black until held up to the light. It’s still pretty damn dark, even with the sun behind it, but it does glow a bit plum red around the edges. It has honestly taken me forever to get to this point in the review, and the head still persists, but it has evolved into a silky foam that both covers the beer and rolls up the side of the glass.

The aroma is crisp and hoppy. Not at all roasty. It smells like summer nights, in a glass. It tastes that way too. It’s smooth, yet bitter at the same time. The darker quality imparts a silkiness to the beer’s body, but the hop presence keeps the flavor profile sharp, yet clean. There’s a bit of citrus, but overall it’s not very fruity.

I would state that A Dark Night Black IPA is moderately bitter. It’s not to the point of dryness though, which is interesting as the beer is also not sweet. It’s dark and earthy and smooth, yet hoppy. I don’t know how else to say it…I’m just in love. ????

The carbonation is pretty moderate as well, and overall I would say that the flavor profile is defined mainly by the hops used. I’m not quite sure what the IBU is, but I can tell you that the hop profile is dominated by Cascade, with some support from some Nugget and Citra hops.

Have any of you been lucky enough to taste this beer before? If so, did you love it as much as I did? So far I think this is one of my favorite beers by Departed Soles. (And it’s a sorghum beer! Boy, have they come a long way or what?!) To be honest, all of their IPAs have been really good.

Make sure to tune into the Patreon guest pour I did with my beer judge friend Randy if you’re curious what he thought about this gluten free Black IPA.

Cheers!

P.S. Like what I do for the gluten free beer community? Consider buying me a beer for my efforts! ;)