Stormin' Norman
Illumination Brewing / Funk Brewing

Sampling a cellar temp growler poured into a snifter. I filled this growler during a recent visit to the Elizabethtown tap room location.
The beer pours a rich cola brown color with a fizzy khaki colored head of 1 cm foaming up. The foam fades to a rocky edge layer with a few wispy islands in the center of my glass. Some scattered lattice on my glass after each sip.
The aroma is some sweet malt and brown sugar, I also get a little dark chocolate and some herbal tea hops. I do get a bit of smoked malt on the nose, somewhere in between campfire ash and sausage. Fairly mild scents but nothing flawed on the aroma.
First sip reveals a light and crisp body with spacious and gentle carbonation. Very easy drinking beer with a smooth silky texture.
Flavor is a bit of sweet brown sugar and some dark chocolate which then rolls to some grassy hops. No sense of any alcohol on this brew, and not a lot of robust flavors either. There arent any apparent flaws on this beer, but I dont find myself very interested in the flavor as I work through the growler.
An example of an underutilized style that could use a boost on the flavors, but is a decent drinker. Try it if you need a break from hops, but dont expect to be wowed by this one.

Pours dark brown with slight head and abundant lacing into flight glass. Taste is dark smoky malts with some marginal bitter-acidic taste, not sure if from hops. Feels crisp and not thin, though pales in comparison to smoke and dagger.