Brought out seasonally in the fall/winter months, Fade to Black by Left Hand Brewery could have just been another attempt at an annual Russian Imperial Stout. Cigar City has their Marshall Zhukov and Hunapu. 3 Floyd’s has about as much fanfare for their Dark Lord. Both of which good beers but not worth the fanfare. All three breweries take time to celebrate the season's ending and the beginning of another year: a time to relax and look back at what's come and gone.
This is all well and good, but I prefer the experimentation of doing something different and dark than repeating the same recipe year after year.
Left Hand brewery has had five years of non-repeating volumes in the Fade to Black series, starting with a foreign stout with tasting notes of “self loathing, burnt opportunities and smoked relationships.” Their second volume was deeper yet: a Smoked Baltic Porter that would make Great Fire Chicagoans say, “Damn that’s smokey”. Left Hand spiced it up the next year with their Pepper Porter, which plays between self flagellation and agony. Their Rocky Mountain Black Ale takes the darkness to a new level. Keeping the hop head in mind, hops abound and are only balanced by the smoked malt. Fortunately, it fails in its balancing job in an amazingly awesome way. The most current volume from Left Hand is a Black Rye Ale. Departing from the over-abundance, I found this beer to be balanced and reassured that there was light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure whether it’s old age or just pessimism dying but I like the new turn.
Sitting on the front porch as the sun sets, you think back to your early days, your high school days, your prom date from across the street who pantsed you in the middle of the gym all while listening to the Sweetness by Jimmy Eats World. The anger, rage, embarrassment, and sadness seem really distant now. Time has a funny way of not getting rid of the pain but instead dulling it. You have almost forgiven them for what they did, and after the rest of the house burns maybe you’ll get in touch with them and say, "Hey, we’re even now."