Back to Black: Absolute Darkness Caving Themed Beer Returns

Vancouver Island Brewery’s Absolute Darkness India Dark Ale being bottled. Photo via Vancouver Island Brewery

A beer that attempted to capture the dark, mysterious and exhilarating essence of caving is back, glow-in-the-dark label and all.

Brewed by Canada’s Vancouver Island Brewery, the India Dark Ale first made an appearance in 2013 after the brewery teamed up Vancouver Island’s Horne Lake Caves.

This time, through their partnership with the Horne Lake Caves, Vancouver Island Brewery announced that partial proceeds from sales of Absolute Darkness will go to the Canadian Cave Conservancy.

Described as a hop-focussed dark ale, the beer has a pillowy off-white head, pours a deep black-brown and has a floral aroma, with notes of pine, tangerine and roasted chocolate. It’s label features a caver with a glowing headlamp on a black background with logos and lettering that glow in the dark.

Absolute Darkness is available now in limited quantities as a pre-release in the Vancouver Island Brewery retail store in Victoria, British Columbia. It officially goes on sale on January 26th.

For more information on acquiring a bottle or two of Absolute Darkness, visit the Vancouver Island Brewery website or Facebook page.