NINE FINGERS BREW BLACK ALE SUN
A stitch in time saves nine. These suds for sewing are the perfect lubricant to get your inner Singer going!
Origin –Sydney, New South Wales.
ABV- 4.5%
Size- 375mL can
Style – American Pale Ale
11th April 2019. A date that is etched in history for the worlds science buffs. Before then, the image of a dark core encircled by a flaming orange halo of white-hot plasma was only an artist's impression. Until of course astronomers unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. Whereas snapping a picture for your Instagram feed these days is a piece of cake, locking down an image of the black hole that is 50 million light-years away is comparable to photographing a pebble on the moon!
Now, I'm still not sure if it was by design or coincidence, but it was around that same time that Dave Anderson, the nine fingered brewer and man behind Sydney based Nine Fingers Brew, unveiled his own world first, this Xtra Black Ale. Brewed for GABS 2019, even the label design of this Black Ale Sun has similarities to the image of what has since been labelled M87. What isn't fluke however is the linkage to 1994 breakthrough hit ‘Black Hole Sun' by Seattle's first grunge group, Soundgarden. You see, for Dave it’s always been about both music and beer, as evidenced by a line up that includes Smoke on the Porter and Waltzin Ma Pilsner. However since accidentally sawing his finger off and cutting his professional music career short, the time investment in the two has been flipped.
Inspired by the popularity of XPA's, along with his love for darker beers, Dave has also flipped craft brewing conventions on their head to turn out this sessional strength black IPA. Described on the can as a black sheep disguised as a lion, it indeed has a dark and foreboding look in the glass. Though the base aroma of roasted malts and yeast extracts reinforces ominous look, it is the subtle hints of floral and citrus that best indicate what is to come. Remarkably it not nearly as boozy or full-bodied as it appears. Instead a deceptively drinkable ale with bitter flavours of grapefruit and pine side by side with sweet caramel and dark roasted malts.
Astronomers understand that black holes warp space and time around them – as light rays approach, they get bent, and if they're too close, they are sucked in. Although that all bends my mind, what I do know is that after my first Black Ale Sun, I was sucked in!