I was thinking of making a black ale that was not 'stouty'; not really heavy bodied, and with more than a casual toss of hops. A black that didn't have a heavy coffee and chocolate taste, but that had the punch of a premium American IPA.?
They need some fleshing out but here are proposed style guidelines:
Cascadian Dark Ale
Aroma: prominent NW hop aromas: citrus, pine, resinous, sweet malt,
hints of roast, toast, chocolate malt, and/or Carafa
Flavor: A balance between NW hop flavor, bitterness, sweet malt,
subtle toast and roast, chocolate, Carafa. Black Patent is acceptable
at low levels, but should not be astringent. Some brewers prefer to
cold steep the dark grains to achieve a very dark beer without the
tannin contribution of adding the grains to the mash.
History: A style which emerged on the Northwest Coast of North America
in the early 21st Century. Northwest hops are prominent, balanced with
malt, dark malts give color and flavor, but body should be reminiscent
of an IPA, not heavy like a porter or stout. The style is not only
gaining traction with brewers in the Pacific Northwest, but is
starting to spread to other regions.
IBUs 45-90
Abv 6-8.5%
Cheers,
Abram Goldman-Armstrong
Maybe back off a bit on the bittering hops since you've got the bite of the roasted malt and keep the hop additions late in the boil so the aroma/flavor come through the roast.
I would go for the Dusseldorf Sticke Alt beer. Just brewed one on Sat from Dorst's book on the Alt style. It gets most of it's color from Munich and Caramel Malt not your roasted malts. I did use a little chocalte malt for color but using too much gives it the roasted malt character that you don't want in a alt. The bulk of the grain bill is still about 50 percent pils malt. This is one of my favorite german ale beers, it has a nice malty background with a good dose of bittering, flavor and aroma hops. I used a total of 7 ozs of hops in a 11 gal recipe. It's fermenting away right now at about 62 degrees.Most attempts at dark hoppy ales seem to start with an IPA recipe. If you were designing one where would you start and why?