Uinta Crooked Line Labyrinth Black Ale

Brewed by Uinta Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Salt Lake City, Utah USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Have sampled multiple times over the past few years. I always enjoy when this comes around. It’s big and boozy, yet tamed nicely, notes blending all over the place. Hints of chocolate, toasted malts, vanilla and oak...and bits of coffee. Remember getting a nice bitter blast at the finish of these sips. Hide the 13% well! Love the stuff.

Never sure what to expect with a black ale. But it says imperial porter here. Doesnt have the typical malt of a porter, a touch sweet, but the predominant flavor here is the licorice. Not usually a huge fan of the flavor but it works well in this one. Thick mouthfeel, black color.

Pint on tap. Pours 10W-40 viscosity, dark bastard beer, black hole. Khaki head, fades to a collar. Good aroma, toasted & alcoholic. Heavy heavy body, a little too much even for me. Extremely strong taste, burnt and alcoholic, dark chocolate is in there, a little espresso, fudge and licorice, medium-dry, lots of linger. Punch in the face.

Bottle. Pours an extremely dark black body with a tight bubbled dark brown head that faded to a thin covering. The nose is big and intense, tons of roast, chocolate, licorice, moderate alcohol, a little oakiness, The flavor is pretty damn boozy, but I suppose that’s to be expected with a 13% plus beer. Heavy and intense maltiness with a fairly good amount of sweetness. The malt is so thick and syrupy it coats the inside of the mouth and makes the finish last forever. Heavy chocolate and licorice flavors mix with the oakiness, rounding out with some alcohol heat. Thick, chewy, and full bodied with minimal soft carbonation. Pretty decent, I was expecting much worse because of the high alcohol, but it’s actually decently drinkable.

In short: A monster black beer offering good complexity and relatively good drinkability. Very good.
How: Bottle 750ml, corked & caged. Consumed when probably one year of age or so.
The look: Black body topped by a very small tan head.
In long: Nose is big rich roasted malts, a strong woody sensation that resembles barrels (although I’m almost 100% certain this beer has no barrel treatment). Taste is rich roasted grainy cereals, all-grain brown bread, high-cacao content black chocolate, fudge, roasted almonds & nuts, black coffee, a bit of tar, a surprising herbal hops presence. Very full body that doesn’t feel too heavy because of a generous carbonation. I don’t know if it is because I let it sit in my cellar for a year but this beer was a lot less hot and aggressive than expected, this 13.2% monster beer was relatively easy to drink, I didn’t feel the strength of the beer while drinking it, I only felt it after I went through the entire 750ml. A good effort from a brewery that usually doesn’t do it for me. And what a strange coincidence, after a few bottles of Labyrinth I couldn’t find my way out of the house, missed a family dinner, really, wife was a lot less impress by the Labyrinth coincidence and says I was just passed out, whatever.

UPDATED: MAY 8, 2013 750 ml bottle. Pours pitch black with a perfect 1 finger brown head that fades slowly and leaves some lacing. Aroma is very rich, like chocolate cake. Lots of sweet chocolate, ash, toffee, vanilla, charred oak, and light espresso. Taste is like liquid chocolate cake batter. Lots of vanilla and chocolate, moderately sweet with a very light bitterness. Finish brings out some ashy, burnt wood tastes with some espresso. A little black licorice taste lingers too. Alcohol very well hidden but it’s obvious that this is a heavy beer. Thick body and a creamy, oily mouthfeel. Overall, this is a meal in a glass. This could easily be considered an imperial stout and I’m still a little fuzzy on what the difference is. Intense flavors and this goes down way too easy for being 13%. If there was some more bitterness and hops here it would be absolutely awesome.

A - Pours as black as black can get. Concentrated light from the sun could not shine through this stuff. A big 2 finger tan head dissipated very slowly and provided little lacing. S - Chocolate cake batter, dense caramel, molasses, roasted malt, toffee, dry oak, spicy alcohol, hints of licorice, T - Bittersweet chocolate and milk/sugar coffee up front. The oak comes in early to suck up the sweetness and adds a good amount of vanilla to the mix. Sour berry fruit, roasted caramel malt makes adds another level and stays until the oak and hops sweep back in towards the finish. Finish is charred vanilla oak with hints of cocoa bitterness. M - Full bodied, rich, silky, creamy, sticky. This is a chocolate bomb! The oak is definitely present but not overpowering. Alcohol is mostly buried especially for 13.20. It’s a big beer all the way around. This one will not disappoint. Serving type: bottle 03-09-2011

Bottle as shown. Pours a dark brown with small beige head. The aroma is roasted malt and vanilla oak. Thin mouthfeel with rich roasted malt and chocolate. Easy to drink, hiding alcohol well, a very impressive imperial porter from Uinta.

Bottle pour during the Utah tickfest with the labmates. Pour is dark, dark brown with a billowing mocha head that lasts. The first aroma is sublime; Huge molasses, brown sugar, lots of nice vanilla notes, roasted malt. Taste really opens up with some more boozy chocolate notes, heavy vanilla, more chocolate, the liquorice really makes itself known again as some nice molasses in the finish. Thick, lightly carbonated. This beer lifts. Thanks Douglas!

Svart öl med ett stort fluffigt brunt skum. Doftar framförallt kaffe och choklad. Smaken är intensiv med förutom kaffe och mörk choklad även lakrits och lätt aska. Avslutas med en distinkt beska/bitterhet.