Beer Review: Sinistor Black Ale

Price: $3.89  for a 22oz bottle,  plus bottle deposit

Brewery: 10 Barrel Brewing Co. Bend, Oregon

Style: Black Ale

Color: Black (but not as black as a Stout), maybe a dark brown. 

Aroma: Roasted grains, but most of the aroma is from hops.  

Body: Medium

Stomach Aspect:Light 

Head Retention:When fresh poured the head grew to about an 1/8", but within 30 seconds of pouring the head had dimished to almost nothing. When drinking the brew there is no head remnants left on the side of the glass. 

Taste: Take a pull and there isn't much flavor on the tip of the tongue, move the beer to the middle of your tongue and the flavor hints at appearing but doesn't.  Move the brew to the back of your tongue and there is some bitterness from hops, and chocolate grains. Swallow the brew and that's when the flavor announces it's arrival.  At the very back of the tongue you get a pronounced, but quick flavor of hops, caramel, and even chocolate grains. After swallowing the brew you get a little flavor of hops on your breath.  The more you drink the brew the more you taste caramel and chocolate, with less hops. 

  

Conclusion: I did not know what to think when tackling this Black Ale. I've had Black Ale's  in the past and they were not very good.  The aroma is a little on the light side, you really have to put your nose to the glass to get the aroma. The flavor and color are actually quite nice.  The body of the beer is a little light, but it fits the beer and it doesn't fill your stomach like a Stout, or Robust Porter.  I am not sure where to put this brew, it's got good flavor, little aroma, medium body, little head retention, but easy to drink.  The flavor really scrambles your mind because it's hard to pin down what exacly it is.  If you're looking for brew that will challenge your taste buds, and kinda screw with your mind this would be a good choice. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this beer and you can't go wrong purchasing it. 

Just a side note: I'm a Stout drinker through and through.  If I didn't have the bottle in-front of me and I saw this brew in a pint glass my first idea would be that this is a Robust or Baltic Porter.  Mabye even an English Stout. The alcohol content is 5.3%, and after 19 oz, yeah I can tell.   I'm not a big fan of the normally lighter colored beers taking on dark colors.  If a person wants a dark beer, they should drink a Stout or Porter. But, that's my opinion and take it as just that.