Samuel Adams Dark Depths

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Black IPA
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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I was really really excited to try this beer. This was my first black IPA and I was really curious to see what it would be like. Well...I was a little bit disappointed. Pours black into the glass with a tan head...smells like a stout...looks like a stout...and, you guessed it, tastes just like a stout. A dry stout to be exact. I don’t really get any IPA taste or character with this beer it just tastes like your average dry stout. A little bit of IPA hop character comes to mind on the finish but it is fleeting and is gone as soon as it registers that that’s what you think your tasting. Not a foul brew, just not what I was hoping for.

Drat. Dark clear maroon color, small tan head, solid lacing. Aroma of peppery coffee grounds. Taste is bitter coffee and cocoa. Not bad.

Pours dark brown with a huge tan head. Chocolate, cherry, and coffee aromas. Same flavors with dank hop notes. Slick mouthfeel with low-medium carbonation.

Bottle. Aroma has notes of roasted malts, citrus and herbal hops. Black hue with a light tan head that mostly diminished and left fantastic lace. Flavor is sweet and bitter. Palate is full bodied and oily soft. Overall a lovely brew. Aroma could be better but everything else is spot on.

Bottle from Giant Eagle. Pours a dark brown hue with a frothy beige head. Aroma of espresso, coffee, bitter chocolate and a hint of citrus hops. Tastes of pine, bittersweet chocolate, coffee, roasted malt and a citrus hop back bone. Medium bodied with subtle carbonation. A nice beer.

This brew pours brownish-black with a medium creamy light beige head that recedes slowly to a film. Small patches of lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee and hops. Medium body with a roasty character and flavors of flowery hops, bready malt, toffee and fruit. The finish is roasty with a moderately bitter hops aftertaste. Above average overall.

UPDATED: MAY 15, 2013 Purchased at Breeze Thru Wine & Spirits in Milwaukee, WI; enjoyed at a good friends house while watching the White Sox deconstruct but come back. Appearance is a very very dark ruby brown with a moderate off white head that rims around the glass. Aroma smells potent, bit hoppy for sure with a mix between grassy and citrus hops, maybe a bit of malt as well. Taste very potent, almost more so than a baltic porter, slight bitterness. Its good, wouldn’t do this again though. 5/15/13 re-rate, I did this again...and for some reason much better than before, maybe fresher? Bumping up rating.

Has a cherry cola color with a large, persistent head. The aroma is subdued, there’s a little malt and a bit of hops, and kind of a sweet coffee undercurrent. The taste is very light on hops for an IPA. There’s some citrusy hops in the nose at the beginning of each sip, then a very smooth, rich finish with some chocolate, bready tones. I don’t know that this thing would appeal strongly to IPA lovers, but I really enjoyed it.

Black color with tan head. Dry chocolate, dusty, black malt aromas. medium body. Semi-sweet chocolate, black roast flavors with citrus bitter hoppage--good

Bottle, thx Andy. Black pour, beige head, nice looking. Sweet minty piney smell and taste, but it kind of drops dead after a second on the tongue. Watery palate. Somewhat complex but not really impressed.