hiphops (280), caldwell, New Jersey, USA Mar 21, 2006 pretty good very dark and sexy lookin. porter with some berry aftertaste instead of striaght coffee or chocalate. i liked this. beervana (781), Libertyville, Illinois, USA Mar 20, 2006 (03.16.06) 11.2 oz brown bottle purchased from DiCarlo’s, Mundelein, IL. Bottle labeled as best before June 2005. Slight residue ring around neck (infection?). Clear brown black hued elderberry black ale having a tiny off-white head. No discernable carbonation. Sweet fruit juice aroma. Medium bodied ale that starts with moderate malt sweetness and fruity/vinous/slight leather flavors. Some astringent tannins in the mouth. Finishes dry with light bitterness and malt fade. This a good interesting historical beer that tastes like a wine-beer hybrid. mkgrenwel (420), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Mar 20, 2006 I guess I wasn’t thinking when I poured this expecting a light fruit beer. The word "black" should have tipped me off that this beer is pretty much a fruit flavored porter. It tastes like dark charred malt. Roasty is an understatement, this definitely tastes burnt. Then strangely the fruit picks it up. I don’t know elderberries, but I guess that’s what I taste. Seems like a mix of grape and blueberry. Full enough flavor and decent palate. Bitter char lingers in the finish. Clean and dry, almost no sweetness. maniac (2628), Richmond, Virginia, USA Mar 16, 2006 Dark black color with a thin light brown head. Sweet malt aroma, slightly astringent. Sweet fruit flavor with light malt hints. Numenor (869), Richmond, Virginia, USA Mar 15, 2006 Black body with a light reddish tint to it. No head is present when poured. Fruits, plums, cherrys, lderberries dominate the aroma and accent the taste. Very spicy body with a spicy ending as well. Aurelius (2643), Tallahassee, Florida, USA Mar 14, 2006 Dark, malty fruit aroma with cocoa almost a whiff of cinnamon. Opaque brown with a stiff tan head. Tangy and homebrew-like. Dark malts give ita a porter/coffee taste. Finishes quite bitterly, medium heavy body without a whole lot of residual CO<sub>2</sub>. Metallic on the lips. Clingy aftertaste. Technically decent, but I didn’t enjoy this on an empty stomach. iambeer (255), Ontario, Canada Mar 13, 2006 4 style gift pack, this one reminded me of some kind of berry wine, torelable. Too much like sour fruit, least favorite in the bunch. gilvanblight (390), Windsor, Ontario, Canada Mar 5, 2006 Dark red pour, could be mistaken for wine if not for the thin tan pinkish head. Scent of berry present right after opening. Some malt but mainly berry in the taste. Much less sweet then expected but still sweeter then usual ale. A bit of coffee and malt came out in the finish. Aftertaste has some bitterness. I really like this one.
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