Black is Beautiful
Locust Lane Craft Brewery

Locust Lane Craft Brewery "Black is Beautiful"
16 fl. oz. can, "CANNED ON 01/18/22 09:32 NO 2 DRY JANUARY" and sampled on 02/20/22

Notes via stream of consciousness: Ahh what a beautiful pint that is! The body is an opaque black and the head is a thumb's width of densely foamy tan. The aroma is chocolatey, mildly coffee-like, and lightly fruity. Tasting it delivers more coffee, and there's a little bit of a green pepper spiciness to it. I was actually getting that in the aroma but I wasn't sure about it so I skipped it. The chocolate remains but here it's much more like dark bittersweet chocolate than the softer milk chocolate and cocoa powder that I found in the nose. I'm also getting a little bit of the apple and sweet red berry fruitiness that I found as well. The roastiness is soft, and then appears ashen in the finish. There's a touch of black licorice too, and just an edge of molasses. Hmm... it's not readily apparent but there are also some mild leafy, herbal, and woody hops notes. I'll assume that they're at least partially responsible for the licorice note. It's nicely balanced by a median bitterness, and it finishes dry with the ashen roastiness and flickers of fruitiness and black licorice lingering until it fades to just bitterness. It's a really long finish, and eventually it just sticks with you. Fortunately, at least for me, I'm not getting ashtray mouth and that's because they've kept the roastiness at a reasonable level. Some brewers really like to throw the roasted malt at it and that's a mistake because, number one, there's a limit to how roasty it can get before it becomes too much, and secondly, because it adds acidity to the beer but I think this one is really nicely balanced and the dark malt acidity doesn't stand out. There's a little bit there of course, but just enough. Wow, I just realized that this is an imperial stout at 8.1%. I don't really get the alcohol at all. I have another one in the fridge ready to go but now I realize I should either wait on it or go for something in the 5%. or lower range. This is very nicely done though and I'd have another if it was closer to bed time. Did I mention that the green pepper spiciness comes from the coffee beans - no, I did not, but now I did. What else? It's medium bodied with a gentle caress of tiny zesty bubbles before becoming smooth and creamy. The head held up pretty well, and it's left some broken but fairly wide rings of craggy lacing behind. All in all I feel this is very well done. They could have gone for more residual maltiness which would have given it the impression of a bigger beer but I really enjoy this more English style version. Nicely done.
Review #7,794

16 oz can, dated 7/30/20

Pours black, opaque, tan colored head that fades. Aroma of espresso and dark cocoa. Taste is very roasty too. Less black licorice flavor than the other version of this beer that I've had. Fuller bodied.