Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale

      Bell's has pleased and puzzled me.  I was not particularly pleased with their Christmas Ale, but have enjoyed some of their other offerings.  I like the bottle.  Anyway, Fury pours out black with a fresh mocha nose.  Well, this is a step up, with lush mocha and coffee flavors.  There is a burnt smoky character on the finish and nice medium hop throughout.  It also has a nice sweetness to it and lovely body with a 7.5% ABV.  Fury is superbly balanced  with sweet and smoky,  Alcohol and hop, and big mocha and coffee flavors.  This is a very good beer and this should be one of their Winter Seasonals, it's a great cold weather beer.  Highly recommended.

Full Sail Session Black Ale

      Full Sail from Oregon made an amber I liked so I thought I'd check some of their other products out.  The Black Ale pours out a dark brown with a fresh mocha and mild hop nose.  This is one of those lighter dark beers.  It has a nice smoky mocha flavor with mild hop bite.  The malts are in their full glory here.  This is a flavorful, but highly drinkable dark beer.  I will enjoy more of these to be sure. Good any time of year.  And I love the little stubby bottles.

Southern Tier " Iniquity " Black Ale

Another entry from New York's Southern Tier Brewery, " Iniquity " Black Ale. I have to say I like that name, and am very fond of black ales, so I can't wait to try it. Well, it pours out a dark brown, it's really not black or even that dark a brown. The nose is very yeasty with some mocha and medium hop tones. The flavor has mild mocha and caramel with a smoky note. A fair amount of hop bitterness pervades throughout. It's a little hoppier than most black beers, but I felt the balance was alright. There may be a bit much on the finish though. There's good body here and a rich mouth feel. It also kicks up the alcohol at 8.9%. It's a little expensive at 6 bucks a bottle, but it's a big bottle and it's chock full of alcohol. So it 's actually not to bad considering what you get. Now, if you try to sell me a low alcohol beer for 6 bucks, I'll spit in your face. Both these Southern Tier beers were good , but not great. I feel there is room for improvement.

1554 Black Ale

1554 is another beer from the folks at New Belgium. So far I've loved their Fat Tire, liked Mighty Arrow, was so-so on 2 Degrees Below and was not too fond of Ranger IPA. In fact I refuse to call Ranger a beer, it's so f-ed up. Anyway they have run the gamut, with me so we'll use this stuff to tip the scales one way or the other. They sure are lucky I like the black. 1554 pours out a darkish brown, really no where near black. The nose has a light mocha and strong caramel, sort of a stronger Fat Tire. The flavors are the big caramels and mocha, with the hop bitter tingling around the edges. This is a stronger Fat Tire with more mocha and a bit more body. But , this is a good thing. This is a very nice dark beer with great flavors. I wish they wouldn't call it a black beer, cause it isn't,but it's super yum yum. Again scour their website to find out where to get this beer. This tips me towards liking this brewery, they have two really good beers, that's better than some.

Back to Black: Xingu Black Beer

This bottle has absolutely no info on it save it's from Brazil. It pours a really dark brown. Not Halle Berry dark, Djimon Hounsou dark. I held it up to a light bulb and could see no light through it. Xingu has a fresh malty nose with some cocoa and baking spice. This beer is so smooth and chocolatey going down. It's got those great dark roasted malt flavors and a rich full body. You also get a pleasant smokiness and that hint of baking spice. The finish has subtle hop and yeast to it, but in a good way. I remember having one of these many years ago and liking it, but not this much. Go and buy some right now. Well don't just sit there reading go buy some, I'll wait. O.K. Now try it. Isn't that great. Lastly, must make comments about Brazil, but I can only think of really tan girls with amazing asses. Oh, and nazis. PS, googled tan girls with amazing asses, surprisingly, nothing.

Sam Adam's Black Lager

On to the last of our beers form the Sam Adam's Brewmaster's Collection The ominous Black Lager. Although, since we are talking about corporate America I'm sure it's non-threatening, like say, Will Smith. This pours out a deep dark espresso brown and has a nice smoky mocha, caramel nose. This beer has giant malts, much bigger than an Asian beer, and goes down smooth. There is an up front cocoa that gets sort of overwhelmed by strong coffee flavors that dominate a lingering finish.If you don't like coffee I'd stay away from this one. It's got a nice mouth feel, but it's week on the body. Looking at this stuff you expect a way fuller, richer beer. However, this beer really speaks to me, in fact, it's very well spoken. This is the best of the bunch from the Brewmaster's Collection and a good beer, but this is still not a great beer. Overall, this collection is worth a try, but won't be on my goto list. Next time, we're gonna review a white beer, and see if it's true that you can never go back.