XXXPA Beer Review: Black Brewing Co’s Margaret River Triple IPA, Tested

XXXPA is a triple IPA from Black Brewing Co, a brewery that spent eight years on Caves Road in Wilyabrup, right in the heart of Western Australia’s Margaret River wine country, before it shut its doors for good in June 2024. It is 9.8 percent ABV, 65 IBU, and by the time we finally poured this bottle, it had been sitting in the cellar long enough to outlive the brewery that made it. That is not the usual way we come to a review on this site. This one is part tasting note, part small piece of Australian craft beer history.

The Brewery Behind It: Black Brewing Co

Black Brewing Co started in 2015 when Stewart Sampson and Scott Douglas took over the site on Caves Road that had previously run as Duckstein Brewery. They built it into more than a brewery, adding a restaurant and Dune Distilling Co on the same 17 hectare property in the middle of Margaret River’s vineyard country. By the brewery’s own account it was producing around half a million litres a year at its peak, and the team leaned into playful, oversized beers like this one alongside a standard lineup. One notable release along the way was a collaboration called Honest Ale, made with pro surfer Taj Burrow, which ended up distributed across six Australian states.

Black Brewing Co had real momentum too. Less than a year before it closed, the brewery won Champion WA Brewery at the Indies, one of the more respected craft beer award programs in the country. Then in June 2024, the company behind Black Brewing and Dune Distilling entered voluntary administration, citing unforeseen circumstances and pointing to the high cost of wastewater treatment on the property as a major factor. The brewery gave customers a single day’s notice and closed permanently on June 15, 2024, after eight years on Caves Road. It joined a rough stretch for Western Australian craft breweries around the same period, several of which went into administration within the space of a year.

What Is a Triple IPA, and What Does XXXPA Mean

A triple IPA (sometimes written IIIPA) pushes past a double IPA’s usual 8 to 9 percent ABV into double digit territory, using extra malt to support enough alcohol without the beer turning cloyingly sweet, while still trying to keep a real hop presence in balance. It is a small, ambitious corner of the style built more for bragging rights and slow sipping than everyday drinking. Black Brewing Co’s own naming makes the joke explicit: their standard XPA was already a nod to the American pale ale gone hop-forward, and XXXPA is that same idea tripled, both in the name and the ABV. If you want the fuller story of how IPA got from a practical export beer to a style family with this many extreme branches, our History of IPA piece covers that arc, and our What Does IBU Mean guide breaks down why 65 IBU reads as moderately bitter on paper but drinks bigger next to this much malt.

The Tasting

The first pour, pictured above, came out a bright, clear golden amber with a thick, rocky white head that held its shape well past the first few sips. On the nose it is unmistakably malt-led: toasted bread crust and a clear streak of honey sweetness up front, with the hops sitting further back than you would expect from something calling itself a triple anything. That biscuity, bready malt character carries all the way through the sip, sweet enough to lean toward golden syrup and honey before a slower wave of fruity hop character shows up underneath, papaya more than anything sharp or resinous. The alcohol stays remarkably well hidden for something under 10 percent, tucked behind that full body rather than announcing itself with heat.

A second pour from the same style of bottle, shown here, came out noticeably darker: a deep reddish amber instead of golden, with the same tight white head but a heavier, almost toffee-like nose. High ABV, malt-forward beers like this one are exactly the kind that shift with time in the bottle, picking up darker color and rounder, more caramelized flavor the longer they sit, and it is worth expecting some bottle-to-bottle variation with anything this big that has had years to rest. Either way, this is not a beer built for refreshment. It sits heavy and warm on the tongue, the sweetness lingers, and by the second half of the glass it becomes clear why the biggest problem with a triple IPA is that you genuinely cannot have more than one.

Best Ways to Drink XXXPA

Split One Bottle, Not a Six-Pack

At 330ml and 9.8 percent, this bottle carries roughly as much alcohol as two and a half standard beers. Pour it into two smaller glasses and share it as a nightcap rather than treating it like a session beer. It rewards slow sipping far more than it rewards speed.

As the Anchor of a Big Beer Flight

Put a triple IPA at the end of a lineup, never the start, since it will flatten anything lighter poured after it. If you are building a “biggest beers we own” flight at home, our How to Throw a Beer Tasting Party guide has the format, and this is the kind of beer that closes the night rather than opens it.

With Rich, Sweet Food

The honey and toasted malt character pairs naturally with anything caramelized: a proper sticky BBQ rib, a blue cheese with real funk to stand up to the malt, or even a dark chocolate dessert. Skip anything delicate, it will get steamrolled.

As a Toast to a Brewery That Is Gone

If you happen to still have one of these tucked away, there is something worth marking about drinking a beer from a brewery that no longer exists. Black Brewing Co put real ambition into a lineup that included this beer, and cracking one open now is as much a small piece of Western Australian craft beer history as it is a drink. Our look at Triple Rock Brewery’s closure covers a similar story from the other side of the world, a reminder that even well-loved, award-winning breweries are not guaranteed to last.

Who It Is For

XXXPA is for collectors and Australian craft beer nostalgists who already have a bottle sitting in the back of a fridge, not for anyone hunting for a beer to actually go buy. If a friend hands you one, treat it the way you would a bottle from any closed brewery: pour it carefully, expect some drift from what it tasted like fresh, and enjoy it as a piece of a story that already ended.

Where to Find XXXPA Now

You cannot. Black Brewing Co ceased trading permanently in June 2024, and XXXPA has not been brewed since. Any bottle out there today is old stock, most likely sitting in a private cellar, a back shelf at an independent WA bottle shop that never sold through its last case, or someone’s fridge the way this one was. There is no official channel left to buy it, fresh or otherwise. If you want something in the same style available today, the alternatives above are the honest substitute. Our How Long Does Beer Last guide is worth a read if you are holding onto any old, high-ABV bottles of your own and want to know what to expect from them.

FAQs

What does XXXPA taste like?
Biscuity, bready malt with honey and golden syrup sweetness up front, moderate hidden fruity hop character, and a full body that hides most of its 9.8% ABV. Color and intensity can vary bottle to bottle with age.

What is the ABV of XXXPA?
9.8% ABV, 65 IBU.

Is Black Brewing Co still open?
No. The brewery, based on Caves Road in Wilyabrup, Margaret River, Western Australia, entered voluntary administration in June 2024 and ceased trading permanently on June 15, 2024.

Can I still buy XXXPA?
Not through any official channel. It was never a widely distributed beer outside Australia, and production stopped when the brewery closed. Any bottle still around is old stock.

What style of beer is XXXPA?
A triple IPA, also called an imperial IPA or IIIPA, a stronger, maltier step up from a double IPA.

What does the name XXXPA mean?
It plays on Black Brewing Co’s regular XPA (extra pale ale), tripling both the letter and the strength to signal this is a much bigger version of that same idea.

Does XXXPA change with age?
High-ABV, malt-forward beers like this one typically darken and pick up rounder, more caramelized flavor the longer they sit in the bottle, so an older bottle can look and taste noticeably different from a fresh one.

XXXPA is not a beer we can point you toward buying, and that is unusual for us to say outright. What we can say is that it holds up as a genuine, well-made triple IPA years after the brewery that made it closed its doors, which is more than a lot of beers this size can claim once the novelty wears off. If Black Brewing Co’s story stuck with you, our Beer Cities guide has more on the towns and regions worth building a trip around while their breweries are still open, and our Beer Gravity Explained piece is a good next read if you want to understand exactly how a beer gets to 9.8 percent ABV in the first place.