A Battery Of Barracudas
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

Unlabelled 650 mL bottle from the brewery with a neck-tag; dated Feb 2 2017 and served slightly chilled. Described as a "black winter ale" brewed with Simcoe hops.

Pours an opaque black colour, with tinges of mahogany brown around the edges. An inch of foamy, tan-coloured head is created initially, requiring more than 10 minutes to dissipate down to a dense, lumpy cap and creamy collar. An attractive, continuous swath of similarly-tinted lacing is deposited during this process - looks great to me. Earthy soil and resiny pine come through on the nose, in addition to roasted malts and a woodsy, charred bark-like element that I can't quite identify. There's also some faint hints of dark fruit, and some subtle molasses sweetness.

A pleasant, well-rounded black ale that avoids the extremes that sometimes characterise this style. Roasted malt flavours of black coffee and baker's chocolate, together with notes of molasses, serve as a solid foil to the dirty, earthy notes of the Simcoe hops. Finishes earthy, with pine resin bitterness and charry roast lingering into a moderately persistent aftertaste. Medium body, with mild carbonation that gently prickles the palate, resulting in a mostly soft, smooth texture. Average drinkability; about what I'd expect from something in the 5.5-6.0% range.

Final Grade: 3.72, a B grade. A Battery of Barracudas is enjoyable enough, without really managing to stand out in any specific manner. It's certainly not an aggressive (or especially bitter) black ale, particularly compared to their Murder of Crows - rather counter-intuitively, I suppose, given that barracudas have a reputation for being mean sonsabitches, whereas crows are more like avian trolls. But that's neither here nor there - I like this beer just fine, even if it's not the most exciting black ale out there - it doesn't exactly have me down, down, down on my knees, but it's worth a try nonetheless.