The name of Black IPA isn't completely correct. The P in IPA stands for Pale, in terms of color. In truth it should be IBA for India Black Ale or IDA for India Dark Ale. The fact that they're "extra" hoppy is the India Ale brewing technique that added a large amount of hops, allowing beer to stay somewhat fresh while on a long shipping journey. Adding roasted malts removes the "Pale" color.
Dad's Little Helper Black IPA is good, Blindfold by Sierra Nevada is decent, and I also like Night Time by Lagunitas.
lol. Its a style that is popular... then made with other malts. Don't over think it. If you have problems though the popular, non ipa term is "cascadian dark ale". But really in general they taste much like an IPA, but are black... so name is fine.
Haven't had in a while but did always enjoy blind fold black. Only ever saw it in their 4 way ipa packs which is a shame as I would love to buy it on its own.
The best ones I've found are actually Italian (but that's mainly due to lack of access to most American ones). Rampage imperial IPA from Black Diamond Brewing Company was one that really sucks out as being enjoyable.
I've also been reading a lot of homemaking books lately and as you alluded to, it seems quite simple. I think I will wait till my family moves back to the US at the end of the year before diving in.... But I'm so damn excited to start!
I'm a bit of an anal guy, and I geek out on it a bit and listen to a few different brewing podcasts every week... Read a ton of stuff before I started and was overly meticulous, ect...
But really, making decent to good beer is easy. If your not trying weird **** ("I wonder If I can make a german chocolate jalapeno berliner weisse!") and pay attention to sanitation and temperatures... It will be at a minimum not a chore to drink the beer you make. If your trying, and competent, and clean you can just go online and find a recipe for a style or even better find a clone recipe for something you like... And it will be good. Good beer is actually pretty easy, its great beer thats hard.
You can start extract if you want to buy less stuff and make it easier... But all grain is cool, and really isn't harder then soaking grain in hot water for an hour. (OK, you have to guess/calculate the starting temp to account for the heat it takes to get your cooler warm, and the heat lost to the grain... but preheating cooler takes 11-12 degrees out of the water, and there are simple and accurate calculators where you just put in weight and temp of the grain.
Doing your own mash is fun, because the temp you mash at gives you control over how much the beer will ferment/how much it dries out vs residual sweetness in the final product. However extracts do have some positives in that since they are basically wort reduced to a syrup or dried to a powder, they already have the proper mineral content and you can just use distilled water... However that kind of becomes a downside if your just buying pale malt extra alone and it wasn't made for ipa or for stout or what ever style your making. Not a HUGE deal though, mineral content is more part of that good to great jump then a requirement for making good beer. It just helps the appropriate flavors pop, and can make the hops seem a little muddled or the malt not complex enough...
Definitely is a plus if you can get a small fridge/freezer that will hold what ever you ferment in and build a little temp controller so you can get it to hold a proper temp though. Temp swings are bad, and different temperature ranges will make the yeast do different stuff. Plenty of people do with out, but if you can craigslist a fridge that will hold a fermentation bucket for ~$100 and make a temp controller for ~20-30 you will be happy you did.
So in summary... yeah do it. Like $30 for 5 gallons of good beer lol