3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle/22oz - Pours a dark black brown in color with a medium light tan head that stuck around to produce some decent lacing on the glass. Aroma is heavy of dark malt, piney hops and chocolate. Flavor matches pretty close... medium bitter. Finish has hints of chocolate and lingering bitterness. Good one...
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle. Pours opaque black, trapping any light that attempts to penetrate it. The head is huge, frothy, whipped foam. This drinks with a chalky chocolate edge, topped with an earthy hoppy bite. The aroma matches that profile. The beer’s sweet finish is the only thing that doesn’t quite fit here. (#4573, 4/22/2012)
4.2 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
Aroma of plum, pine and a hint of chocolate. Pours super dark with a nice bready head. Taste is super malty with a good roasty hop to it. This really shows off how roasty a black IPA can be. Very nice showing from Sam.
3.4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
It poured an amber/brown color with a beige head. The aroma was of roasted malt, some grapefruit, pine and chocolate. The taste was of roasted malt, pine, caramel, light peat, and citrus.
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours a deep brown with a big mocha head, leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is oranges, chocolate, toasted malt. Full bodied and viscous. Tastes of bitter chocolate, citrus, stale coffee, pine, corn, slight metallic feel on the finish. The hop profile comes through surprisingly well. Well made and complex, but quite a bit going on here and I’m not totally digging it.
4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Pours a beautiful deep brown with ruby highlights, topped off with a huge frothy off-white head. Big hoppy aroma dominated by juicy orange and pineapple. Some chocolate and espresso notes. More IPA than Porter in the taste. Lots of tropical fruits, orange and pineapple. Roasted malts and chocolate sneak up later in the mouth. Really nice. One of the best from Sam Adams.
3.4 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Definitely more baltic than IPA. Pours black with a big tan frothy head. Lots of grassy aroma, little bit of chocolate and smoke. Flavor is a bit unbalanced. Hots of bitterness without much hops flavor and that bitterness clashes with the chocolate.
4.7 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 19/20
Very interesting beer. Had the look of an imperial porter, but really had great IPA characteristics.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
22oz bottle 4/15/12 (Binny’s Downers Grove)-Pours black with a one finger tan head. Aroma of hops, caramel, roasted malt, chocolate, and slight coffee. Taste of chocolate, coffee, malt, and hops. This medium to full bodied brew is well balanced and is an interesting combination. Nice brew.
3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Bottle. Deep brown body with red highlights. Huge frothy head, most lasting. Aroma of sweet dark chocolate, roasted grain, apricot, caramel, roasted grain. Hint of prunes. The flavor is moderately sweet and moderately bitter. It finishes lightly sweet and moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, creamy texture, lively carbonation. Aroma leans toward malts, but flavor is mostly hop bitterness. Bitter coffee taste and hot alcohol linger into the finish. For my taste, any depth these black IPAs and baltic IPAs may display are overrun by clashing roasted malts and hops.
|
