Big Cone

Big Cone, first released in 2014 as Big Cone Black Ale, is a hoppy black ale from Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. of Buellton, California, which its founders have called a black IPA.

Award

Specs

Brewery Description

Big Cone Black Ale is an American-Style Black Ale brewed chock-full of piney, earthy kettle hops ... then dry-hopped with floral, tropical varieties.

Source: The Full Pint: Big Cone release

Tasting Notes

brewed chock-full of piney, earthy kettle hops and then dry-hopped with floral, tropical varieties

Source: thefullpint.com

Ingredients

The 2014 release copy describes piney, earthy kettle hops and a dry hop of floral, tropical varieties without naming them. Co-founder Jaime Dietenhofer told Food GPS the brewery uses Citra and Amarillo as finishing hops "for grapefruit taste, so it doesn't taste what it looks like", and that it has a malty finish; he added that although they call it a black IPA, "it's actually technically an American stout" (Food GPS). No malt or yeast is named.

Hop Profile

Brewing Details

Style Context

As category context only, the closest Brewers Association guideline entry is American-Style Black Ale (also called Black IPA): very dark to black, 6.3 to 7.6 percent ABV and 40 to 70 IBU, with dark roasted malt under assertive citrusy, fruity or piney hops. The brewery's own style label matches this entry; no ABV or IBU is published to compare.

Awards History

Generated from the loaded results for this brewery and beer name, not researched separately; years not loaded are not covered.

Brewery Context

Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. is in Buellton, CA.

Links checked 2026-10-14: Website, Instagram.

Related

• Brewery: Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co.
• Hop varieties: Amarillo, Citra
• Hop farms that grow these varieties: grown by CLS Farms, grown by Coleman Agriculture

Each farm listed as growing a variety grows that variety according to the hop farm data; the brewery has not said it bought hops from that farm.

Links

• Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co.
• Figueroa Mountain: our beers
• The Full Pint: Big Cone release
• Food GPS: founders interview
• Brewers Association: beer style guidelines
• Beer Syndicate: Big Cone

Gaps

• Not Found: ABV, IBU. Checked foodgps.com, thefullpint.com, beersyndicate.com, figmtnbrew.com, figmtnbrew.com, figmtnbrew.com, web searches recorded in the research notes, Catalog.beer search by beer and brewery name.
• Not Found: Color (SRM), Original gravity, Final gravity, Hop form, Hop use, Hop lot or farm, Malts and grains, Yeast, Adjuncts, Water. Checked foodgps.com, thefullpint.com, beersyndicate.com, figmtnbrew.com, figmtnbrew.com, figmtnbrew.com, web searches recorded in the research notes.

Research Notes

• Big Cone does not appear on the brewery's current "our beers" page or beer finder, so there is no beer url.
• The identification of the 2026 winner with Big Cone Black Ale rests on the name and the Specialty IPA category; the 2026 recipe may differ from the 2014 release, which is the newest published description found.
• A search snippet attributed to BeerAdvocate gave 6.5% ABV and a Black IPA style, but the page returned HTTP 403 and was not read, so no ABV is recorded.
• The quoted description is excerpted, with the omitted words marked by an ellipsis.
• Researched 2026-10-13.
• Field pass 2026-10-13: A Beer Syndicate keg record gives 6.5% ABV for a label spotted in May 2015. That earlier release does not establish the 2026 beer's strength; ABV, IBU and beer url remain unfilled.
• Deep dive pass 2026-10-14: the release says kettle hops and a dry hop but not which of Amarillo and Citra goes where, so hop use stays unpublished per variety.