We might be getting out of hand here pushing the envelope. Brewery crossovers I can take. IPA’s that look like stouts I welcome. Belgians brewing American-style IPAs sounds ok to me, as does Flying Dog brewing their own version of the Belgian version. But this is ridiculous. Scottish brewers working with American brewers to brew a black version of the Belgian version of the American version of the IPA? Oh and let’s make it a Double IPA for good measure. Lucky for us dear beer drinkers, not only is the result of this bizarre evolution of craft beer delicious, but there is a bunch of it landing in the borders of our fair city.

Earlier this year, American brewers from Stone went over to Scotland to meet up with the brewers from Brewdog–famous for some of their whiskey-barrel aged beers we’ve seen on cask recently at ChurchKey. When these brewers got together to colaborate, they had the foresight to make a rather memorable creation: Bashah Belgian Black Double IPA.

Details are slim on the brew at the moment but I can tell you it has large quantities of Warrior, Centennial, Amarillo, Magnum and Hercules hops. When you smell it, it smells like fresh hop pellets right when you open the package. It sort of tastes like that too. Liquid hops, followed by roasted malts. This beer has a lot more stout-like character to the malt flavors than most of the Black IPAs out there.

Previously Stone collaborated with Brewdog and Cambridge Brewing Company in Massachusetts to create the Juxtaposition Black Pilsner and that beer’s 12 kegs were released in October. Perhaps the acclaim that beer received convinced Stone to release their next collaboration a little more widely. According to a picture put up on BrewDog’s blog, the initial batch was 20 hectolitres. That might mean there are only 35 kegs worth? They have brewed more because it’s currently showing up in kegs and bottles.

Lucky for us, Churchkey has Bashah on tap right now, provided I didn’t drink it all last night. Also D’Vines will be doing a tasting of the beer on Friday! You should be able to buy bottles of it there as well.

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ChurchKey is located at 1337 14th Street NW. D’Vines is right outside the Columbia Heights Metro–also on 14th Street.