4 oz pour on draft at Spacebar. Poured a medium dark brown color with a small off-white head. Aroma was light floral citrus notes, some chalky chocolate, roasted malts. Flavor was light floral notes. Rusty, burnt malts. Light nutty notes. Some bitter chocolate.

4 oz pour on draft at Spacebar. Dark ruby brown with beige head. Aromas of floral, light citrus. Tastes of roasty notes, light floral. Medium body with a dry finish.

Deep dark brown coloured body with a nice, two centimetre tall oily, microfoamed light brown head. Aroma of hops, alcohol, pine, grapefruit, roasted malt, nuts and a bit of earth - relatively pungent. Medium-bodied; Strong pungent hops at first then showing some very pungent earthy malt and quite a bitter nutty and cardboardie malt flavour with less of a defined hoppiness and no complexity on the finish. Aftertaste shows mostly malt, alcohol, metal, nuts and earth with a faint glimmer of hops, but nothing too nice or remotely complex. Overall, a fairly lacking beer in every respect and showing more like a brown ale than anything else. I was expecting quite a bit more from this one, but it just wasn’t there. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Costco in Arlington (Pentagon City) on 11-September-2014 for US$7,49 sampled at home in Washington a few steps away from the store on 11-December-2014.

Draft at Churchkey. Pretty much black, flufy brown head. Interesting aroma of citrus, pine, roast. Taste is burnt licorice, soft citrus, milk chocolate. Tasty.

12oz pour at Meridian Pint pours a murky, nearly opaque black with some fluffy off white head. Nose is fairly interesting, lots of malty/roasty notes at the forefront, a bit of rubber, some mild black pepper, citrus is there too, pine, grapefruit. Flavor hits a lot of different areas, sweet caramel malt, burnt bread crust, a little bit of molasses, some rubber, some pepper, some soap, pine, orange peel. Full bodied, bitter finish. Solid offering.

From a 22 oz bottle shared at home. Pours a clear cola with a tan head. Fruity nose. Flavors of orange and grass. Creamy mouthfeel. Bitter finish.

This is pretty much just an IPA with very few elements of roast or dark malt. That’s not to say it’s bad, there is a good citrus hop profile here but it should be re-conceived without the black part. Medium bitter finish, dark brown/black pour with ok head and lacing. Tap at Smoke and Barrel.

Draft at Sedona Charlottesville. Pours an opaque near black with a thin frothy tan head. Good head retention. Aroma of roasted malt, piney hops, milk chocolate. The taste is roasted malts, milk chocolate, bitter citrus and pine hops. Medium bodied, mild lingering bitterness.