Bottle from The Lazy Dog Pours a solid dark brown with faint garnet highlights at the edges and a decent sized creamy beige head that persists for a good long time before sticking lots of lace to the sides. Aromas of roasted coffee with a hint of caramel and some light earth and citrus notes. The flavor follows the aroma to a T. Roast and light chocolate and caramel with a light earthy hop flavor. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a slick almost gritty mouthfeel. Virtually non existent hop aroma makes me want to call this a porter or dry stout. The flavor has some hop to it, but the beer in this bottle is either old or there aren’t enough hops in here to call this an IPA. MEH!

On draft at Mad Fox Oktoberfest. Pours a cloudy cola brown with an ecru head. Roasted malt nose. Flavors of light smoke and resinous hops. Highly carbonated. Mildly bitter finish.

Dégustée en fût chez "The Reservoir Restaurant & Taproom" à Waterbury, VT. De couleur noire-brune et quasi-opaque. Nez de malt rôti, moyen de chocolat noir et de houblon herbeux aux notes florales et citriques avec des notes de pain grillé. Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen ainsi qu’une texture aux notes crémeuses. Goût moyennement amer de houblon herbeux aux notes florales et citriques (une amertume présente en arrière-goût toute la gorgée) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût de malt rôti avec un moyen goût de pain grillé ainsi que des notes de chocolat noir puis en finale l’amertume de houblon se fait légèrement plus herbeuse et aux notes asséchantes. Post-goût moyen-long et un peu sec, moyennement amer de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques avec un moyen goût de rôti. (1er mai 2013)

Bottle shared with Ariel at Beer Market Jaffa. Dark brown to black with a beige to light brown head. Aroma of citric and slightly piney hops and nice roastiness. Roasty flavor with some coffee, a bit of dark chocolate and a bitter hoppy finish. Medium-bodied. Nice.

12.ounce bottle. Pours a dark copper mahogany color. A sweet malty nose, some pine. A smooth big bitter, cocoa, pine flavor. Pretty bitter. Good.

12oz bottle brought back from VA. Murky brown-black, with an oily beige head. Pretty decent Black IPA, middle of the road sort of. Burnt coffee minty chocolate, Medium to full body, pretty sessionable. Sweet and sugary, with a nice hop balance. Solid offering.

Draught @ Akkurat. Pours hazy black with a creamy and fluffy ash-coloured head that slowly dissipates while leaving some lacing on the glass while dissipating. Smell is tiny sweet and fruity with roasted malts, salty liquorice, wood, pine, grapefruit juice, dark grapes, rye flour, grass, orange zest and hints of coffee. Taste is sweet and bitter with dark bread, grapefruit juice, lemon zest, freshly cut grass, roasted malts, salty liquorice and dark roast coffee. Mouthfeel is round, slightly smooth and medium bodied. Finish is slightly bitter and tiny herbal with roasted malts, citrus zest, freshly cut grass, pine, dark roast coffee and salty liquorice.

On tap at The Reservoir in Waterbury, VT. Pours lack with a small beige / tan head. Aroma of both light roasted malts and citrus hops, perhaps more skewed towards the malts, though this is a pretty typical nose for a black IPA. Flavour of roasted malt and licorice notes upfront, finishing fairly hoppy on the finish. Much more skewed toward the malt end of things, though the body is nevertheless quite a bit thinner / weaker than a good pungent black IPA. Good, but missing something.

Draught at MacGregor’s East Avenue. Malty nose of coffee and chocolate, a bit of hop. Citrus and grass come in better in the flavor. A bit heavy, and quite porter-like. Bitter finish.