Sixpoint Black Soul

Tap at Hop Devil Grill. Black beer with a thin tan head. Aroma is fantastic, caramel, toast and sweet milk chocolate. Malted milk balls. Some cherry/berry esters as well. Flavour is similar, dominated by bittersweet chocolate and toasted malt. Very subtle roastiness. Lingering chocolate and fruit on the finish. Good beer.

2 draught pints at Burp Castle on 9/23/06.
Dark tar-like black-brown, mostly opaque, with a hint of deep magenta on the edges, in the light. Creamy light-caramel colored head is well-retained and laces lightly as it recedes.
Strong molasses-like bittersweetness is evident up-front, while some creamy, lightly milky-like buttercream sweetness fattens things. A dollop of chocolate syrup washes over the nose and then is consumed by a gorgeous, ashy, roastiness that is brittle, delicate and displays great caution in its use. Hops provide an afterthought of green, leafy buds, some sticky resin qualities and light floral notes, trimmed by the chocolate and pale malt combo of sticky sweetness and drying roast. Aroma strength is medium-high, with no alcohol apparent and less yeast character than seen in Six-Point’s paler beers, no doubt due to the darker malts being used.
Sticky-sweetness is present, from the start, in the flavor, almost like a combo of gritty pale-malt sugars, cookie-like with hints of vanillla-flavored fudge and beads of molasses providing an off-setting bitterness and the defining stickiness. But soft hop bitterness and light, ashen roast help pick apart this stickiness and the beer finishes balanced, and by no means too sweet. Some nuances of coffee beans emerge as it warms, with more a focus left on the main flavors of caramel and chocolate. The typical one-two punch of brilliant malt-extraction and proper attenuation are here again wonderfully represented. The body provides heft and thickness up front, but eases out to become drinkable and quenching as it finishes, never compromising on flavor, of which it has quite a bit. Yet again, I don’t find bittering hops to be in excess in the least, nor do the flavoring hops dominate the beer. Notably, roast does not build up to a palate fatiguing astringency as it is apt to do in many American porters. Alcohol is not evident. Carbonation is moderate. As far as criticism, there was just a bit too much of a chocolate syrupy-like sweetness that built up, slightly, as I finished my second pint.
All in all, this was a hell of a weekend for trying Six Point beers. Whether off the fermentor or tap at the brewery, and on tap at Burp Castle, all were in peak form.

Li beerfest. Pours a nice deep brown almost black and a thin tan head. Aroma is the typical porter quality- light roast, some chocolate, and light hoppiness. Sweet caramel flavor some chocolate, and light roasty bitterness in the end. Served too cold so I couldnt get the full flavors or aromas. Decent.

Quite a solid porter, and unlike some other beers from these guys, they didn’t hop the hell out of it - the dark, roasted malts come to the front, along with an almost lactic sweetness - some vanilla and cherries come in late - finishes with an almost sticky malt sweetness - really quite nice.

04.29.06 TAPNY Really decent, pretty standard porter and I think that’s a great thing. Dark brown with quick brown head. Aromas are roasty malts, burnt toast with dark cocoa, background of earth and apricot stones. Medium bodied with an effy feel, not too thick or sweet. Finishes with nice roasted bitter bite.