Black Valor | Goose Island Beer Co.

4.28/5  rDev +14.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Black body with ruby highlights, initially there's a finger or two of tan foam, later it settles down into soft silkworm-esque webs across the surface. A lovely halo of sticky lacing remains in the glass.

Pineapple, papaya, tropical fruit layered nicely over the roast malt character.

Uniquely fruity up front with supporting dark chocolate and cocoa flavors, soft carbonation and medium bodied. Lingering roast and fruit in the dry aftertaste. Overall a badass and subtle Black IPA. Would put down a growler of this under the right circumstances (ie, any day of the week ending in -day).

 590 characters

3.5/5  rDev -6.7%

3.46/5  rDev -7.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Served in a tulip glass at the Clybourn brewpub.

Subtitle: the blaxploitation version of Zero Dark Thirty. I'd see it. Anyway, thiss tuff pours a deep ruby-/garnet-tinged black-brown topped by a finger of sandy ecru foam. The nose comprises pine, leek, light spearmint (which comes across almost Vick's Vapo-Rub-like at times), and light orange peel. The taste brings in more of the same, with an underlying flavor addition of lightly-toasted and buttered biscuit sprinkled with grass. This all helps, as that weird Vick's character is covered o'er. The body is a light-leaning medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a smooth feel. Overall, a decent black ale, one that achieves some nice balance on the tongue, but one whose smell doesn't make you eager to taste it.

 777 characters