Judge’s Review: 96 Rating – Black Cliffs by Boise Brewing Co.

American Stout | Seasonal | USA

By David Sapsis

Judges Rating: 96.00
Aroma: 22.00
Appearance: 6.00
Flavor: 38.00
Mouthfeel: 10.00
Overall Impression: 20.00

Black Cliffs by Boise Brewing Co. was judged according to style 20A, American Stout, per the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. The beer is presented in a half-pint Nonic glass after a full and hearty pour, with a coal-black color and a wonderful frothy cap of dark tan/light brown foam that hangs around for many minutes. It’s a strikingly pretty dark beer, winking at me to give it a try.

The aroma leads with dusted cocoa and a distinct dried herbal note, from hops I think, with a tad of bittersweet cooked sugar/molasses and black licorice along for the ride. It’s rich and roasty for sure, but the distinctly herbal and faintly spicy notes fill out the complexity and provide hop character typical for the style. The sweet underlaying of residual malt comes forth with some swirling, lending a really nice balance to the nose.

The flavor starts with big, chewy roasted notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, with deep licorice and dark candy-fruit before the appreciable bitterness hits the palate, followed by more of the enticing herbal and spicy hop notes found in the aroma. The late palate dances with roasty and bitter notes, countervailed by residual sweetness and a nice dark-fruit note, with hops playing nicely right through the big, full finish. Overall, it is fairly dry and quite bitter, but the aftertaste shines with an almost magical admixture of roasty, malty, dark-fruity, and herbal angles all meshed into a fantastic flavor set. Body is medium-full and spot on. Conditioning is high and, while there is a touch of astringency, the dominant bitterness seems hop-derived and not from black malt or barley, which usually brings stronger astringency and burnt notes. If I had to guess, I’d say the beer started around 16 or 17°P and was bittered to somewhere in the 50–60 IBU range.

This is a spectacular beer, full stop. There was a time when the American Stout category was not recognized, but a very well-known West Coast craft brewery had a three-beer portfolio labeled up in green, blue, and red. The red one sort of set the stage for big, bitter, roasty stouts with equally big hop aroma and flavor. It was pretty much like nothing else available. Eventually other brewers chimed in with similar takes and the style became recognized as a discrete type. Here we have a great example showing deft balance between strong dark roasted barley notes, some complexing dark fruitiness, a touch of residual malt sweetness, and an assertive but complementary herbal-spicy hop charge. While the above description takes a reductionist approach to individual characteristics, the actual composition of this beer, as a singular combined package, simply stands out for its dynamic complexity, elegant expression, and overall World Class quality. Well done, Boise Brewing Co.; well done indeed.