3 Shades Of Black
Akademia Brewing Company

I am trying this beer off the tapper at the brewery as part of a four sample flight. It poured an opaque dark with no head and no lace. The scent had a bold breakfast flare of maple, coffee, and vanilla. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with sweet molasses malt base accented by vanilla, coffee, and subtle flare of bacon. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a great beer.

Look: Pours an almost stout looking blackness with a sand colored head that quickly melted to nothing, nilch, nada. Not one single fizz bubble to be found.
Smell and Taste: Mostly notes of coffee and chocolate. Real light on the maple. Can't find the bacon.
Feel: Flat and watery. Need I say more?
Overall: Not a bad beer but not a great one either. If you are buying I'll have another. If I'm buying, we will move on to something else.

Akademia calls this a "Chocolate Milk Porter", but the style that best fits it is a milk stout, not an American Porter both because of the lactose and the abv and the general nature of the flavors. In addition, it's flavored with maple, bacon, coffee, and vanilla. A lot going on there, and sounds lovely. The problem is that the low abv and thinness of the body can't support all of those flavors to make them shine. This beer either needs to be stronger, thicker, or sweeter- or better yet at least two of the above. More lactose would do it. You can taste all of the individual flavors, but they seem sort of washed out, and you don't get that sweet creaminess that can tie all that sort of stuff together. I wanted to love this beer, but alas, can't say I did.