21st Amendment Back In Black - San Francisco, CA

[PappyVanWise]

Back in Black is an American Black IPA from the good folks at 21st Amendment Brewing.   The brewery is a few blocks from AT&T Park, home of your World Champion SF Giants.  It opened in 2000, founded by a former brewer from Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse in Berkley.  In 2012, 21st Amendment planned to case 45,000 barrels of beer, up from 28,000 in 2011.

I thought this was an interesting (wikipedia-sourced) fact, 21st Amendment's retail beers are canned in Cold Spring, Minnesota to contain costs.  I wonder how common a practice this is for urban breweries.

After looking at some reviews online, I guess I can categorize this as a guilty pleasure of mine.  I usually associate Bells Oberon with late Spring and watching baseball, but a few years ago this became my sitting around the pool beverage of choice.  It's a very easy to drink beer for almost pushing 7% ABV (clocks in at 6.8).  The brewery says this beer was inspired by the midnight ride of Paul Revere, taking the traditional English IPA recipe and "Americanizing" it by adding dark malts.

Though the Beer Advocate bunch might not enjoy it as much as I do, I find it a very interesting combination.  Drinking it out of the can is fine, but pouring into a glass makes for an interesting juxtaposition.  The dark color makes you prepared for a thicker stout, but the IPA flavors and lightness are there.  It's pretty cool to fool your brain like that.  Maybe you can pour a stout and this, and do the Pepsi challenge.

I think some people call these types of beers Cascadian Dark Ales, but that could just be a Northwest thing.

Available in six packs of cans for about $10 at Total Wine Mclean, and I know its everywhere else in Arlington.  I think 21st Amendment has creeped its way into the Giants and Safeways of the world, too.

Happy Drinking,

Eric

[DrXmus]

I don't know if they've changed the recipe at all from last year, but I really didn't like this beer last summer. I love Black IPAs (BIPAs), Cascadian Dark Ales (CDAs) or whatever the hell they'll be called when the AHA gets around to standardizing the terminology and style guidelines and I brew a really good BIPA to have on tap at almost all times, so I'm not a BIPA newb or anti-hop dude.

The Simcoe hops in Back in Black was too much for my palate. I don't mind Simcoe as a bittering hop, but the pine scent and flavor is too overpowering for me in Back in Black. The beer had a good malt backbone and I thought the bitterness was about right for an IPA, but I couldn't get over the feeling that I was drinking Christmas (Christmus?) tree water. I won't buy another sixer, but I'll try it again, probably, if nothing else hits me on the draft list (or if someone gives me a can).

[bettyjoan]

Back in Black is an American Black IPA from the good folks at 21st Amendment Brewing. The brewery is a few blocks from AT&T Park, home of your World Champion SF Giants. It opened in 2000, founded by a former brewer from Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse in Berkley. In 2012, 21st Amendment planned to case 45,000 barrels of beer, up from 28,000 in 2011.

I thought this was an interesting (wikipedia-sourced) fact, 21st Amendment's retail beers are canned in Cold Spring, Minnesota to contain costs. I wonder how common a practice this is for urban breweries.

After looking at some reviews online, I guess I can categorize this as a guilty pleasure of mine. I usually associate Bells Oberon with late Spring and watching baseball, but a few years ago this became my sitting around the pool beverage of choice. It's a very easy to drink beer for almost pushing 7% ABV (clocks in at 6.8). The brewery says this beer was inspired by the midnight ride of Paul Revere, taking the traditional English IPA recipe and "Americanizing" it by adding dark malts.

Though the Beer Advocate bunch might not enjoy it as much as I do, I find it a very interesting combination. Drinking it out of the can is fine, but pouring into a glass makes for an interesting juxtaposition. The dark color makes you prepared for a thicker stout, but the IPA flavors and lightness are there. It's pretty cool to fool your brain like that. Maybe you can pour a stout and this, and do the Pepsi challenge.

I think some people call these types of beers Cascadian Dark Ales, but that could just be a Northwest thing.

Available in six packs of cans for about $10 at Total Wine Mclean, and I know its everywhere else in Arlington. I think 21st Amendment has creeped its way into the Giants and Safeways of the world, too.

Happy Drinking,

Eric

Wow, I liked this beer, but I cannot imagine it being a "by the pool" beer. Good on 'ya.

I remember this one being a little heavy on the malt for me to drink more than 1-2, but I, too, loved that it looked like a stout but then psyched your taste buds out.

We went to the "brewery" when we were in San Francisco one time, and I remember being a litty wacked out that it was less of a brewery and more of a sports bar. I think after having been to Lagunitas, any brewery was going to fall flat.

[treznor]

Yes, after going to Lagunitas, anything is going to have trouble measuring up from a physical plant standpoint I wouldn't really call 21A a sports bar, I don't think they have a TV in the place. I've been 5-6 times now and it does get pretty packed at times.

I took a look at a couple of the reviews on BA and the Bros review in particular. While I get what they're saying, some of the drawbacks that people point out are why I like the beer pretty well. I like that it isn't quite so hoppy as some of the other 21A IPAs like Brew Free or Die. The IBUs are pretty similar on the two (65 for Back in Black vs 70 for Brew Free or Die), but it feels like the extra dark malt really mellows the hops out. It isn't on my 'Oh, oh, I gotta have it!' list, but if Back in Black is around (which is pretty much always is for me since we have distributorship in NC for the past year or so), I won't be upset at all with drinking it.

[bettyjoan]

Yes, after going to Lagunitas, anything is going to have trouble measuring up from a physical plant standpoint I wouldn't really call 21A a sports bar, I don't think they have a TV in the place. I've been 5-6 times now and it does get pretty packed at times.

Ah, but they DO have a TV - it is upstairs. I remember vividly because we were there for the NFC Divisional rounds during the 2010-2011 season, where we watched our beloved Falcons get thumped by the Green Bay Packers. It was Brutal. Even in San Francisco, we were the only non-Green Bay fans in the joint. Good thing the beer was tasty and plentiful.

[PappyVanWise]

As promised, I drank this by the pool this weekend. It's still as crisp as I remembered, but, and I don't know if this is thanks to the Dr's note above, I couldn't get the piney-ness out of my head. It smelled of pine and definitely had a pine flavor to it. Now this isn't a bad thing, it was just a flavor that overwhelmed the first few sips. After that, it did mellow out, and I wonder if poured into a glass or pulled from a tap, the pine wouldn't be so prevalent.

I am a hops guy, but really don't know the flavor profile of each varietal. I've been slow to realize saying you like hoppy beers is like saying you like edible food. There's so much variety in hops, it's good to know what you like. I looked up the beer on 21st's website, and according to them it is Columbus for bittering, with both Columbus and Centennial for flavoring.

In comparing this to the other canned beer from Memorial Day weekend, Hardywood Cream Ale, I'd say the biggest drawback was the alcohol content. Back in Black at 7% and the Cream Ale at closer to 4.5% made a big difference. While I still enjoyed the BiB, it wasn't the smooth summer beer that the Cream Ale turned out to be.

[DrXmus]

As promised, I drank this by the pool this weekend. It's still as crisp as I remembered, but, and I don't know if this is thanks to the Dr's note above, I couldn't get the piney-ness out of my head. It smelled of pine and definitely had a pine flavor to it. Now this isn't a bad thing, it was just a flavor that overwhelmed the first few sips. After that, it did mellow out, and I wonder if poured into a glass or pulled from a tap, the pine wouldn't be so prevalent.

I am a hops guy, but really don't know the flavor profile of each varietal. I've been slow to realize saying you like hoppy beers is like saying you like edible food. There's so much variety in hops, it's good to know what you like. I looked up the beer on 21st's website, and according to them it is Columbus for bittering, with both Columbus and Centennial for flavoring.

Interesting. I searched the intarwebs for "Simcoe Back in Black" and the first hit is my post on donrockwell.com!! Reminds one to be careful of what one says, doesn't it?

You're right that 21st Amendment doesn't include Simcoe in their list of hops, however a site called "letspour.com", which sells beer/wine/spirits/cider/etc. over the 'net, does list it as a dry hop. I have no idea if that page is from last year or if it's even accurate, but it's not unusual for breweries to alter their hop and grain bill a little between runs, although they try to keep flavors as consistent as they can. If you're getting pine in the nose, though, then there's Simcoe there. Centennial and Columbus are awesome hops which give you more of the grapefruit/citrus notes you know and love.