UPDATED: JAN 4, 2022 16oz can. Pours dark brown with a medium, frothy beige head. Aroma is roast, coffee, bread, earth, and a little yeast. Taste is coffee, chocolate, nuttiness, earth, and some molasses. Moderate, lasting coffee bitterness. Light-medium body. Low carbonation. Smooth, creamy-ish, nitro-like mouthfeel.

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2021 Not sure why this pint is a dark ale and not a stout or porter, but it’s a nice pint regardless. Hefty doses of chocolate, dark fruit, and roast, with undertones of caramel, yeast, and berry. Finishes dry with an espresso bitterness. Good beer.

UPDATED: DEC 8, 2021 The Aromas are a just right balance between dark roast, dark malt, molasses and a hint of fruit. Flavors are similar to nose, slightly sweet upfront but balanced just right with great carbonation and bitterness. Very good balance overall. Really good drinking dark beer.

UPDATED: DEC 5, 2021 Can. Pours clear mahogany, merlin creamy tan head, good lacing. Aroma is earth, roast, hint of ash. Flavor is light plus sweet, light plus bitter, roasty, earthy. Merlin body, soft mouthfeel.

UPDATED: DEC 4, 2021 Looks like a stout, tastes like a hoppy porter or black IPA-brown ale hybrid. Whatever it is, it's darn good. Can from Sarah for Beersmas 2021.

UPDATED: NOV 25, 2021 Can from Chicago Trader Joe’s enjoyed early Thanksgiving morning in Greensboro. Gorgeous dark brown pour with lots of tiny bubbles forming a foamy, solid, tan head that lasts. Big aroma of dark chocolate, roasted nuts and a hint of spice. Flavor is dark malt, light espresso bitterness, yeast spice and some unsweetened baking chocolate. Nice fall beer.

UPDATED: NOV 18, 2021 I got this beer to enjoy around Halloween, but I missed that deadline by a couple of weeks. Cocoa and dark chocolate with a nuttiness and a bit of 'sour wood' (that's normally in some barrel-aged beers) in the aroma. This appears completely black at first, but under a bright light it's a beautiful crystal clear dark brown with ruby highlights, topped with a thin but finely laced and persistent tan head. Delicious dark chocolate, toasted nuts, and dark roast coffee along with a nice woodiness in the flavor. Nice balanced hop bitterness but it's hard to discern the flavors as the dark roasted malt dominates. The flavor seemed familiar to me like something I've had before and I finally realized that it reminds me of a nut brown ale (which you hardly ever hear about now but was very popular in the late 80's and early 90's). So if I was categorizing this it would be a hoppy nut brown ale, and a delicious one at that. The body is medium and a bit watery. Finishes with a lasting dark chocolate and cocoa flavor and a bit of stinging bitterness. It's too bad the picture shown here is of an older bottle of this as the 16 oz. can I got has really cool artwork of a haunted house with a dark purple background and green scary lettering. Also, the stated ABV is a frightening 6.66%. Great beer for Halloween or any time as this is very well done.

UPDATED: NOV 13, 2021 On tap at Brook's Kitchen & Tap in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. as a 5 oz. serving displaying a black/brown hue, with a lingering layer of deep tan froth, and a clinging band of lacing. The nose was creamy malt, roast, cocoa, some nuttiness, subtle spice, and a touch of dried fruit. Medium bodied, with fair carbonation, the taste was similar notes, adding moderate roasted & slightly earthy bitterness, with some dryness to the finish. Almost a Porter.

UPDATED: OCT 31, 2021 Pours pitch black night with a creamy tan head and sticky lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, pine, and chocolate. Creamy body with roasted malt flavor with notes of pine, and chocolate. Nicely done.

UPDATED: OCT 28, 2021 16 oz. can from Trader Joe's. Black body with a hint of brown, under a spongy brown head. Light nose of roasty malts, just a touch of earthy hop. Nice taste of a roasty porter, my first of the fall season. Hops are actually keeping the roast in check, giving us, indeed, some coffee notes. A bit of 'burnt' malt, but not one that's distracting.