Pretty interesting experience this one. Had a couple of bottles of it, one shared at The Brick Store with a few of the guys and one consumed on my own (BIG mistake). $14.95 from Bowling Green, KY, USA. (Plastic) corked and caged for the 375 mL? bottle.
Pour is jet black and viscous. The head is non-descript, but it does leave some espresso colored lace.
Nose is as expected with a fairly large dose of the requisite molasses, charred notes, malts and alcohol.
The taste is where things get interesting. Simple, ultra-sweet alcohol up front as expected, but the beer is defined by the finish and the aftertaste. I like the sweet, sherry like notes initially, but smoke cuts in quickly. This in turn is almost completely overwhelmed by the creosote and tar ending and aftertaste. It LITERALLY feels like you are drinking liquid asphalt. This is NOT a beer that could be called anything but massive and frankly it does not come together well. Of course, I’m not all that surprised by the package as a whole, but the feeling and taste of a freshly paved road was a little off-putting. In terms of an “American” version of the style (albeit from Denmark), it’s pretty surprising in as much as there is very little hop character hanging around.
Not sure if this really qualifies as beer as we know it, and to be honest the brew fails in the important areas of taste and drinkability. I’m not against these experiments per-se, but too often they should not be inflicted on the consumer.
Strange brew, and to be honest an expensive mistake.