Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

India Ink Black Pale Ale

Contribute your own beer reviews and ratings of beers that are made or available in Ontario.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

G.M. Gillman
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1486
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:24 pm

India Ink Black Pale Ale

Post by G.M. Gillman »

A textbook Black IPA. The nose is pure West Coast hops, the taste is clean rich malt with some good roasty notes and a good hit again of those Oregon or Washington State hops.

None of the "worty" taste I recall from some Trafalgar products in years past.

Excellent work, don't pass it up.

Gary

P.S. Great name and label graphics, too.
Gary Gillman

Stroonze
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:54 pm
Location: Aurora

Post by Stroonze »

Drain pour for me. Didnt like it at all.

User avatar
TJ
Posts: 453
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:23 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by TJ »

Mine had zero carbonation. It was a watery roasty mess. Total drain pour. I need to trust my instincts to avoid all things Trafalgar more.

Stroonze
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:54 pm
Location: Aurora

Post by Stroonze »

TJ, I couldnt agree more. Seems like we had the same experience. Until the falgar changes things up, i wont be pissing my money away on any more of their offerings.

G.M. Gillman
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1486
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:24 pm

Post by G.M. Gillman »

Odd how experiences can differ. Mine had full carbonation, and was not watery in the least for a 5% beer. The roasty notes were there but not dominating, quite subtle in fact. Maybe I had a different bottling...? Or maybe just different subjectivity...

Gary
Gary Gillman

jimmay
Posts: 123
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:24 am
Location: Waterloo

Post by jimmay »

I'm with Gary. Really liked this, the roastiness was just right. Maybe a little light on the carbonation, but definitely not flat. When you call em like you see em, you have to give credit to Trafalgar here for making a pretty decent beer!

robinvboyer
Posts: 358
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:32 pm

Post by robinvboyer »

My bottle was great. Best trafalgar beer ive ever had.

User avatar
grub
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1403
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:16 pm
Location: Biergötter Homebrew Club, Brantford
Contact:

Post by grub »

the joy of trafalgar... vast variation bottle to bottle, and pray that it hasn't been on the shelf long or their "excellent" QC takes over and turns every one into a giant mess. I've been burned more than enough times to stay away, even with a few glowing reviews.

velovampire
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1079
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:12 pm
Location: Parkdale

Post by velovampire »

Trafailgar

PeenSteen
Bar Fly
Posts: 716
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:41 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by PeenSteen »

I had a bottle last night that was ok, i mean no infection or anything and it tasted fairly decent. While trafalgar does make some pretty bad stuff I think most people go in thinking its going to be an infected disaster regardless if it is or not. I bet if you slapped a Flying Monkeys label on this beer people would be singing its praises and going nuts trying to find it.

User avatar
TJ
Posts: 453
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:23 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by TJ »

G.M. Gillman wrote:Odd how experiences can differ. Mine had full carbonation, and was not watery in the least for a 5% beer. The roasty notes were there but not dominating, quite subtle in fact. Maybe I had a different bottling...? Or maybe just different subjectivity...
It would be odd if we split the same bottle. And of all the aspects of a beer you can assess, I think carbonation is probably the least subjective. Mine had none. Yours did. Which speaks more to Trafalgar's quality control and lack of consistency than any personal bias we may have.

Anyway, it's beating a dead horse to Trafalgar bash, but I grabbed a bottle based on the original post in this thread and figured I'd chime in with contrasting opinion.

G.M. Gillman
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1486
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:24 pm

Post by G.M. Gillman »

Oh for sure. I find most beers actually from craft breweries vary from batch to batch, but usually within a certain range. I "hear" people when they say they've had bad experience with Trafalgar, but I like the beers and find them much improved in the last couple of years.

Gary
Gary Gillman

matt7215
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3047
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:18 am

Post by matt7215 »

Ill buy this if I ever see it, but the distrobution seemed pretty tight on this one, at least compared to other Trafalger releases

midlife crisis
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2009
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by midlife crisis »

There is some on the shelf at Laird & Eglinton.

The Mick
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:58 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by The Mick »

PeenSteen wrote:I had a bottle last night that was ok, i mean no infection or anything and it tasted fairly decent. While trafalgar does make some pretty bad stuff I think most people go in thinking its going to be an infected disaster regardless if it is or not. I bet if you slapped a Flying Monkeys label on this beer people would be singing its praises and going nuts trying to find it.
Having a Flying Monkeys label, or Great Lakes or DDC label or any label from a brewery that consistently puts out well made beers and has reasonably high QC standards will definitely cause people to seek them out more than they would seek out brewers with reputations of having poor quality control and beers that are hit and miss. I definitely want the scene to grow and have a lot of options available to me from as many Ontario brewers as possible, but if I try a few different offerings from a brewery and they are, for the most part, either off or just not well made I'm going to move on and forget about them until such a time that the feedback is positive enough to try it again.

People get psyched for releases from breweries who've earned our trust by making good products. When Spearhead puts out something new I'm going to be really pumped to try it as well because I liked their Hawaiian Style PA a lot, not because it's trendy to drink Spearhead.
I don't always drink beer ... because sometimes my friends win and we have to go to macro-only establishments.

Post Reply