8

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

Dark brown coloured body with a deep cola glow, all underneath a thick five centimetre tall, relatively fast-dying rich brown head that leaves a strong lace on the sides. Aroma of of toasted malt, oatmeal, grain, vanilla, molasses and some strong resinous and grapefruity hop notes - very nice and bitter smelling! Medium to Full-bodied; Rich toasty and roasted malt and especially oatmeal flavours dominate with a deep kick of caramelised sugars and toffee right behind, with a slight creaminess and vanilla flavour at the end, with good hop bitterness throguhout. Aftertaste is rich, very robust and balanced nicely between the pungent citrusey and resinous hops that have some alpha acid bitterness and the strong oaty and toasted malt notes, with good sugars at the end. Overall, a surprisingly nice Black IPA that is creeping on Imperial Status, but shows nicely throughout and is worth trying to find, especially if you miss this sub-style in lieu of newer school IPAs (like I do). I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from The Perfect Pour in ElkRidge, Maryland on 07-March-2023 for US$4,99, canned on 14-December-2022 and sampled at my house here in Washington on 07-June-2023.