New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale

Pours with a largish, off-white, rocky head with an extra-dark, although clear, brown body. Very nice lacing, decent retention. Some hops followed by a huge hit of chocolate malts on the aroma. There is some biscutiness. Taste is nearly that of a dry stout, tons of coffee malts in the after taste. Lively carbonation. Quite nice.

My favorite black ale. Weyerbacher’s Black Hole aspires to this but misses the light touch and winds up too cough-syrupy. 1554 can be guzzled or sipped non-stop, in a word: drinkable. Also, has a bit of alcohol sting on top so you don’t notice the low content.

Bottle. Pours reddish brown with creamy light brown head, with great retention and good lacing. Aroma is dark bread, toast, grain, nuttiness, dark chocolate, along with smokiness and raisin. Flavor sweet light bread, saltiness, light to moderate bitterness lingering into the finish. Body is moderately full, dry, slightly oily with a lively and soft mouthfeel.

We both really liked this beer. Poured from the bottle a beautiful dark mahogany color with a light tan head -- although the body and the head were somewhat lighter than we expected (that’s not meant as a negative, see below.) Taste was overall rather sweet and nutty, with caramel and chocolate definitely noticeable. For a dark beer, it was quite refreshing and drank lighter than you’d expect. Would be a very good "session" beer that you could happily spend an entire evening drinking.

A nice clear brown with thick tan head. Aroma is hints of caramel and malts. Flavor is of caramel, roasted malts and undertones of chocolate. Body is medium light. I really enjoyed this beer. I think this is one of my favorites from them thus far.

Clear brown, nice creamy tan head. Flavor is light roast, caramel sugar, a bit of toffee and chocolate. Medium bodied. Smooth on the palate. Nice sweet lingering finish. This is a pretty solid beer, very drinkable.

Nice dark chocolate color with a smooth cream colored head and a rich nutty choclatey flavor. It has a strong after taste a little metallic but mostly bitter.

black pour with a ring of cream colored froth. sweet malts and a hint of sugar as well. chocolate and roasted malts on the palate and a good thickness. this could easily be a daily drinker for me.