Hindquarter Porter
Howling Henry's Brewery

This next horizontal as part of the eradication of The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody is going to be fun, if nothing else. I first met co-owner & brewer Greg Schertzer at the Annual Capital City Invitational Beer Festival, held at Appalachian B.C. in Harrisburg several years ago & continuing. He seemed to be a passionate sort, but I wondered as to his sustainability. I no longer doubt in his longevity & he even came to The FGBS recently for a tasting of his wares. Howling Henry is his beagle, who sits in on every brew day & howls. Ha!

From the bottle: "Crafting Beer Without Rules".

Poor Henry just keeps howling as I Pop! these caps. I tried to placate him with a gentle pour into the awaiting glass. As it turned out, no swirling was necessary as it formed two fingers of dense, foamy, deep-tan/light-brown head with good retention of its own accord. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Nose was very roasty, almost burnt, with a sharpness that I noted in an earlier beer. Mouthfeel was medium but VERY carbonated. The taste was oddly of chocolate-covered cherries! Loads of milk chocolate flavor dominated this one, but it was underlain by an unexpected sweet cherry flavor. Interesting. Per the "Notes", I would not have even thought to have guessed this to be a Black IPA, but it certainly is mysterious. It certainly had a roasty, slightly smoky finish, but I was not getting any hop presence. This was certainly a different beer and left me kind of ambivalent as to how I actually felt about it. It was drinkable, but I just felt like one was enough.