It’s color would lead you to think it’s a stout or porter. But this IPA is delicious. Smells great, taste even better, and very drinkable.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown body topped with one full inch of fizzy, beige-colored foam. Smell: Dark malt aroma of chocolate and cola nuts with notes of licorice, Fruity Pebbles, and aged pine needles. Taste: Plenty of dark maltiness upfront tasting of chocolate and a bit like a blend of cola and root beer. Some sweetish hints throughout. Faint touch of black cherry and orange zest fruitiness. Definitely a slackened hop character, with flavors of citrus (particularly lime) and pine. Only barely a medium-high amount of bitterness remains. Tiny hint of tar on the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: My, how this has progressed in just a year’s time! I dare say I like it much better this way.

This brew has changed quite a bit. Had a strong piney nose, with hints of coca cola. Flavors of piny hops and black coffee. I predict in one year, it will become sweeter, and will take yet another twist from its original form.

The surprise of the night at Tyler’s in Durham. A total mindfucker. Pours a very dark brown with a sizable tan head. The aroma and taste scream west coast DIPA. Lots of citrusy and piney hops with a funny caramel finish. It’s just hard to believe that a beer that color can share so much with in common with beers that are known to be golden or orange. Neat!

On tap at Tyler’s in Durham. This was suprisingly good, and I’m not sure why I didn’t get a full pint instead of the 4oz taste. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Dark, dark pour with nearly yellow head. Not knowing much about the beer, I was not expecting the big hops on the nose. Really lovely and resiny, but with some nice sweet fruit from the malt and sugar behind it. Caramel and burnt sugar. Big roasty barley. Dark fruits. But throughout, hops, hops, hops on top of everything. A very tasty beer.