Black's Dawn (3x Berry)
Cismontane Brewing Company

Had at the brewery with the company of womencantsail, t0rin0, and fbm115 on my recent trip to Cali. Served from tap into an imperial pint. Poured pitch black with a one finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, dark chocolate, and dark fruit. The flavor was of sweet malt, dark chocolate, dark fruit, and slight coffee. It had a heavy feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. Had a very nicely balanced flavor with the sweetness from the dark fruit to enhance the original version (had directly before). The aroma was also pretty nice on this one as well for the same reasons. Definitely glad I got to try this one!

On-tap at Cismontane

A: The pour is black in color with a finger or two worth of tan colored head.

S: A pretty big coffee aroma to the nose, which is what you would expect from the regular version of Black's Dawn. Lots and lots of roasted malt, bitter dark chocolate, and a subtle fruity tartness (cranberries?).

T: The flavor shows a bit more of the berry character, seems to be cranberries and blackberries (not sure what the last berry is). The fruit provides a light tartness and plays off the big roast and coffee flavors quite well.

M: The body is medium to full with a moderate level of carbonation. It's pretty smooth on the tongue.

D: I think I prefer the regular Black's Dawn, but this was pretty good. An interesting idea, but maybe use more (or different) fruit next time.

Sampled 1/7/2011 at the brewpub. The beer appeared on the menu simply as "3x berry" but I went with the current name due to my beer naming OCD. It's the Black's Dawn imperial stout with three types of berries. The brewer told me what three berries are in this but I can only remember cranberries for sure. I'll update if I find out what they are.

Pours jet black with brown head that lasts and laces the glass nicely.

Aroma is coffee, chocolate, and berries. A little sweeter and of course fruitier than the base beer.

Flavor is roast, tart cranberry (possibly something tart like blackberry as well), sweet (guessing blueberry here), plenty of chocolate, and over all quite smooth. The drawbacks are really just the sweetness.

Body is medium and quite drinkable. Very neat concept.

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