7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

10oz tulip at the brewpub. Black body. Thick lacing stick around. Lightly fruity hops with black malts and light roast through the nose. Flavor is stronger on malt with sweet cocoa and light ash. Then the fruit punch hops kick (moderate strength) and finally back to unsweet cocoa malts for the aftertaste. Low bitterness, low acidity. Its a nice take on the style, more black ale and less IPA. The style is still weird for me but Free State takes a personally more palatable approach to it.