Poured up on tap at the brewpub weighing in at 7.8% ABV and with deep dark body to go along with moon cratered mocha head. The pours is exceedingly cold for this type of beer and yields very little in the way of aroma. I think I get roastiness, oxidation, chocolate and a sense of coffee. The first sip confirms this is served too damn cold. I get amplified roasted malt and hop astringency. Is this what they want us to taste and smell? A tad warmer, yet on the chilly side, I get a pulse of sweet maltiness to start followed by a moderate level of roasted coffee beans to burnt grains that grow into astringency by midway. I’m also picking up some earthiness or oxidation too. Toward the finish both chocolate notes and some pine hops carry it to the finish. Lingering roasted malt astringency and hoppy pine bitterness close off the experience in a less than satisfying way. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for this offering to turn out pleasant. In my defense the way it was served didn’t lend itself to an easy satisfying experience. It did pick up more chocolate and coffee notes and less astringency at the very end of the glass with a temperature much closure to room ambient than it had started.

Tap @ TBBC. Pours copper, thick off white head. Aroma grassy hops and pine with light malty nose. Taste, plenty of grassy hops with a light bitter finish leaving a thick mouthfeel. Light notes of malts accompanied with some citrus.

Tap @ TBBC. Pours amber, thin off white head. Aroma and Taste, Equally strong dark fruits notes, prunes, cherries with some candi sugar, finishes with some lingering bitterness of the hops and dark fruits. Alcohol, really gave the beer a nice warming moufeel.

on tap-pours a tight brown head with some lacing and black color. Aroma is dark malt-molasses/chocolate/coffee, earthy hops. Taste is dark malt/oat-molasses/chocolate/coffee/anise, earthy hops. Not my taste, but nicer at celler temp. occasional.

on tap-pours a light tan head and brown color. Aroma is clove, brown sugar, fruit-prune/raisin, light/medium malt, spice. Taste is clove, brown sugar, fruit-prune/raisin, light/medium malt, spice/earthy hops. There was some metallic when cold, disappears at cellar temp.

Pours copper with gold edges and nice lasting off white head. The mildly strong aroma has sweet malts with a sense of hops. Wait! I don’t think I smell any hops. That can’t be right. The taste holds a pretty rich mouthfeel bringing in a quick pulse of malt sweetness. That is followed up by tasty late addition pine hop and faint grapefruit hop flavor. I also get a distracting note of butterscotch about midway. The hop flavors give way to full pine and modestly resiny hop bitterness. It ends somewhat dry, bitter and refreshing (once the butterscotch fades completely away). Pretty nice IPA but sub par IIPA. Even though very light in flavor I could do without that touch of butterscotch.

Pours up amber with slight haze and thin tan head. The moderately strong aroma emits cherries, plums, prunes and figs as well as a thin layer of malts and caramel. The taste is full of dark fruity esteryness. It starts with a brief pulse of malt and caramel sweetness and quickly becomes figs, cherries and ripe plums. By midway a mild sense of booze is noticed in conjunction with a faint black pepperyness. The rich cherry – plum sweetness masks the black pepper and booze pretty well. It finishes with plenty of lingering dark fruitiness. It may have fermented a bit too warm from what I can tell.

Orangish hued golden coloured body with a largish tan head. Aroma of super-fresh hops, and tons of them...this one is really dry hopped. Medium-bodied; Nice pungent flavours up front with the hops and alcohol showing first. Aftertaste shows some malt to finish the taste, but not much else. Overall, a good beer (better than most brewpubs), but I prefered the standard IPA to this one, even for hop content! I sampled this beer on draught at Tampa Bay Brewing Company’s Brewpub in Tampa (Ybor City), Florida on 10 November 2007.