My Own Murder
Manor Hill Brewing

16 oz draft pour in a shaker pint glass at The Hideaway in Odenton, MD. Appearance is near-black with a medium tan head. Good retention and lacing. Aroma and flavor feature pine resin and grapefruit hoppiness, caramel malt, chocolate, and no orange that I noticed. (I forgot that the beer had orange flavor, and I didn't notice it while drinking.) Mouthfeel is smooth, medium-bodied, and very drinkable. Overall, an excellent CDA or Black IPA or hoppy porter.

Pours thick and oily, like a stout or porter. Nose hits with coffee and dark chocolate with an underlying aura of vegetation and smoke. This is loaded with dark beer flavors like the nose but also supplies steady medium bitterness and a roasted, smoky finish that makes this a little more interesting to me. Smooth like oats in the finish. Not a bad effort.

A real beauty to look at; deep, dark brown with a thick tan head and plenty of lacing. Aroma comes across almost porter-like. Roasted malts, bitter chocolate and a hint of coffee and tobacco. Flavor turns back a little to give the hops a chance to shine. Not fruity or sweet but with an inviting bitterness. "Orange Peel" is noted on the label so I went back to see if I had missed it, and maybe yes, but it was faint. Well carbonated, full-to-medium bodied mouthfeel. I'm a sucker for the style, just wish they stuck with the name Cascadian Dark Ale.

Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Real dark walnut black body, with hints of cascading tan bubbles. Frothy forming tan head, reaching like a giant fist but with control. Thick bread dough foam with a little bit of spider like lacing, making for a real aggressive nice appearance.

Dry to the bone nose. Deep but whispy air dry carob. Husky sensing malts with dried out brown bread crust to match. Aroma is heavy on a dry chocolate note, masking just about everything. A bit one dimensional but solid otherwise, if some suggested flavors are masked or non existent such as orange.

The dryness continues. While the palate is enjoyable, lots of the parching quality seems to take away from the total enjoyment. Still there is a good amount of dark cocoa like quality, but the dryness comes off as quite tannic. Sadly too, there isn't much orange character to this at all either. However, there's still some decent quality of mild hop astringency, in a dark light bodied rustic flavor.

Decent, but lacks some hop punch, and not really accentuating the added additional ingredients favorably.

Pours black with a dense tan head, ok retention, streaky lace
Smells like a cocoa dusted chocolate truffle with a hint of orange
Tastes like 85% dark chocolate with a hint of orange. Hops only really seems to come through on the resinous, bitter finish
Medium bodied, could use a little bit more carbonation
I like it, but it's not really a black IPA, more like a hoppy porter