We announced today that we’ll be releasing Dark Penance, an Imperial Black IPA, as a specialty release this October 2014 with availability through the end of the year. It’s replacing the TBA in our availability calendar that many of you noticed when we published it late in 2013. Dark Penance will be available throughout our distribution footprint both on draft and in 12 oz. bottles with a suggested retail price of $11.99 per 4-pack.

Dark Penance is the newest addition to our lineup of world class IPAs, which includes Centennial IPA, Red’s Rye IPA, Double Trouble, Devil Dancer and All Day IPA, a session IPA.

“We don’t just add beers to our lineup to have something new on the shelves,” said Dave Engbers, co-founder and vice president of brand and education at Founders Brewing Co. “Our Backstage Series is for experimentation and keeping things fresh, and we still only put those out a few times a year. Dark Penance, on the other hand, went through many recipe iterations before we were willing to put it up there with the other beers that we release again and again, year after year.”

The recipe for Dark Penance took about a year to develop, time that was mostly spent perfecting the beer’s balance and hop profile. It’s the first new beer to be added to our lineup since All Day IPA, which was released in spring 2012 following three years of development.

Dark Penance starts with a heavy malt foundation of Crystal malt for sweetness and just enough Midnight Wheat to push the color to black. The bitterness is huge (100 IBUs huge), but balanced by malt sweetness and alcohol burn. The hop flavors and aromas range from citrus to floral to pine—most everything that hops can be—thanks to a delicious blend of hand-selected Chinook and Centennial hops. The Imperial Black IPA is 8.9% ABV.

“Black IPAs are becoming more common, but Imperial Black IPAs aren’t, and imperializing things is what we do,” said Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki. “Plus, we thought this beer would fit in well with our specialty lineup alongside Imperial Stout, Curmudgeon Old Ale and Double Trouble.” Dark Penance will be available as the follow up to Double Trouble in our specialty calendar, from roughly October to December, dependent on distributor shipments. It will be released in our taproom on draft and in bottles as of October 2014.