1554 Enlightened Black Ale - New Belgium Brewing

Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.

BA SCORE
87
good
-
2,254 Ratings

rAvg: 3.86
pDev: 12.69%
Reviews: 1186
Hads: 1068

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
New Belgium Brewing

Colorado, United States

Style | ABV
Belgian Dark Ale | 5.60% ABV

Availability: Year-round. bottle (1073), on-tap (112), growler (1).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (78) | Reviews (5) | Events (0)

Reviews

Sort by: Latest | High | Low | Top Reviewers |

Alström Bros | Show Hads:

« first ‹ prev | 1-25 | 26-50 | 51-75 | next › last »

Reviews by Zraly:

Zraly

Virginia

3.93/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

The color of this ale is not quite black. It appears to be more of a dark brown with a undertone of a deep, ruby red. The head poured okay, nothing above and beyond the call of beer-head duty.

The smell is that, as my better half pointed out, of a sweet, cherry pipe tobacco. The flavor is not strong, not weak...it is rather inviting. The malt is predominant. The only thing I was hoping for was a bit more of a substantial hopness to help accentuate the malt. However, this is a recommendable ale.

Give this a try with grilled chicken or pork, perhaps with cajun seasonings.

Serving type: bottle

11-26-2002 18:22:41 | More by Zraly

More User Reviews:

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.91/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured from bottle into a pint glass

Appearance- The brew pours a deep brown color with ruby highlights shining throughout. Upon pouring there is a one finger tan head that fades slowly over time to leave persistent foam on the top of the brew.

Smell- The aroma has a nice roasty malt aroma mixed with notes of an earthy hop. There are nice smells of chocolate and coffee as well as a caramel smell giving it an overall sweet and toasty smell.

Taste – The taste begins with sweet caramel and some sweeter chocolate flavors. While sweet, there is some more roastier flavors with some bready notes as well. Some nut flavors come to the tongue along with flavors of dark fruit. More toward the end some lightly bitter flavors of coffee and an earthy hop come to the tongue leaving a moderately sweet and smoother roasted more porter like flavor is left on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is on the thicker and creamier side with a medium to slightly lighter carbonation level. The creamier body and lighter carbonation are great for the sweeter and roasted more porter like flavors of the brew allowing them to fully sink into and be sensed by the tongue.

Overall – A rather tasty brew. A little on the sweeter porter like side but still quite drinkable and refreshing.

Serving type: bottle

05-25-2013 02:13:41 | More by Darkmagus82