12 oz bottle with red wax on the neck. Brewed 23/11/09 and bottled on 08/01/10 – already 9 months old. Bottle # 1159.
$8.99 from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA.
The beer pours as one would expect. Jet black body with a tan head that produces a little lace and some alcohol legs.
The beers’ overwhelming aspect is a deliberate and sapping dryness. It’s not the alcohol that you remember (it’s well hidden), nor is it the considerable bitterness (which is persistent) and it’s not even the roasty, burned and slight charcoal notes (as they should be present), but rather it’s a chalky mid and back ending that will not go away. “Chalk” is really the dominant adjective for me.
Outside of that unfortunate taste, the beer does deliver all of the requisite aspects for the style, but they don’t overcome the feeling that an indigestion tablet has been dissolved in the bottle before opening. It colors everything.