Drago Marino Black IPA

This Black IPA has a smooth and full caramel malt character, dominated by fantastic pine and citrus hop flavours with hints of red berries and tropical fruit. Bitterness is firm without becoming astringent.

Black IPAs are one of the trickiest beers to brew, the malt and hop character needs to be spot on and the water chemistry has to be just right. With this beer the key is to use just enough Carafe Special III to create the colour without impacting the flavour negatively.

The hopping rates in the whirlpool and dry hopping must be high to smash through the massive malt character and yet bitterness is at the lower end to not clash with the carbonates that need to be present in the water chemistry to mellow the harshness of the darker malts.

Flavour
The smooth and full caramel malt character is dominated by fantastic pine and citrus hop flavours with hints of red berries and tropical fruit. Bitterness is firm without becoming astringent.

Aroma
Heavily aromatic with predominantly pine resin, mango, passion fruit and citrus.

Details
Grain – Gladfield American Ale Malt, Gladfield Dark Crystal Malt, Gladfield Munich Malt, Gladfield Dark Chocolate Malt
Yeast – 2 x Mangrove Jack’s M44 US West Coast
Hops – Pacific Jade, Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic
Extras – 1/4 tsp Carrageenan, 10 Calcium Sulphate

Brew Stats – OG: 1.071 FG: 1.015 IBU: 60 EBC: 70 ABV: 7.4%
Grain Weight – 6.7kg

Note: This was previously called The Kraken Black IPA