Bottle. Very dark brown with a dense cream foam. Aromas are dry and earthy roast malts with some nuttiness. Light berries with herbal notes. Flavours are cola with coffee and berries. Earthy with the buckwheat character being to the fore. Dry on the finish with a slightly fruity edge. Decent.

In short: A soft and fruity porter with interesting leafy/tobacco hopping. Good beer.
How: Bottle 220z (label Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale). Consumed fresh a few days after purchase
The look: Very dark ruby body topped by a small beige head
In long: Light bodied beer dominant flavours of dried burnt toasts, raisins and crisp toffee. Some dark grapes and some figs round up the fruity flavours. Finish has a lot of earthy tobacco leaves and juicy fruity hops. Molasses flavour comes through as the beer warms up. Attack was very Schwarzbier-ish followed by the interesting tobacco-ish hopping. An enjoyable beer, I’m surprised to see the relatively low score for the style. My bottle was labelled Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale which is another name for this beer. A typical Rogue business practice. Rogue uses more aliases than a FBI top-wanted Mafioso.

Bottle. Pours red brown with a beige head. Light roasted aroma with grassy hops. The flavor starts sweet and bready, with citric/floral hops, then finishes on a strong roasted coffee note. Quite good.

Bottle. So dark it’s almost opaque, black-brown, big tan head, fizzy-looking. Astringent, asphalt and soil aromas. EArthy like a rich salty broth punctuated by olives, pickled plum, and clean dark malt. Mouthfeel is aerated, smooth. Excellent flavors. Rich lingering malt aftertaste. Shockingly better than the regular Morimoto Soba.

Very unique aroma. Strange smell. Kinda smells like metal and cereal. A little bit of grassy herb flavor. Light for a porter. A little alarming out of the bottle but it got better as it opened up and warmed up ... just a little.