I was feeling a little frisky this week and decided I was going to flirt with one of the newer girls on the block: Iniquity Imperial Black Ale from the Southern Tier Brewing Company out of Lakewood, New York. Southern Tier brews have only been in the Louisville market for a very short time, but are a welcome addition to our beer scene. The brewery, in operation since 2002, is already widely considered one of the top in the U.S., and BeerAdvocate magazine listed them in their top 50 American Breweries in their June, 2007 issue (35th overall).
So I stopped by the ValuMarket in the Mid City Mall and picked up a 22oz bottle of Iniquity ($7.99) and began my love affair. The color is a deep black and you're initially hit with the aroma of coffee and chocolate from the malts, and it pours with a nice, frothy head. A very well balanced beer, it's slightly sweeter up front and only has a light hop bitterness at the end. Weighing in at 9.0% abv, this is not a beer that you're going to be popping bottles of, but should make for a great before or after dinner beer and should pair well with most chocolate desserts. It definitely has its own style, but I would compare the flavor to a porter as opposed to a stout.
Beeradvocate.com rates Iniquity an A-, and you'll find most of the brews from Southern Tier rated in this same range on their site. Southern Tier recommends serving chilled (about 42 degrees) in a tulip glasses for your drinking pleasure. Luckily for us, Iniquity is available year round; so you should have no problem finding it around town at better beer bars and stores. Iniquity, you had me at hello.
