Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

(Draught at brewpub, Sept 17 2013) Pours black, quite a large tan head of dense froth, lots of lace. Aroma is big and hop-forward, fresh pine, leaves and citrus fruit, very little malt making it past the hops in the nose. Flavour starts with those leafy, citrusy hops as well and then the nice roasted/dark malts come through, a bit of chocolate playing nicely with the green hops. There’s a fair amount of hop bitterness in the finish, but also dry roasted malt notes. Body medium-full, somewhat oily, carb creamy and rich. This was a superb black IPA, no matter what one chooses to call it - the balance of the hops and malt and overall feel of the beer were bang on. Made me stay at the bar just to have a full glass...