1554 Enlightened Black Ale

I had this one for the first time with my good German friend. OK well he's not GERMAN, well maybe he is somewhere along the line but he does LIVE in Germany right now. And he better come back SOON!!! Are you listening out there! Soon! We miss you both terribly. Anyway I had this one on one of our Craft Beer Man Nights.
Not "Craft Beer Man" like Superman but, Craft Beer(comma and pause) Man Nights. Ladies drink champagne and puffy paint, we men drink beer and well, drink beer, and maybe there's a game on. Basically Craft Beer(wait for it)Man Night entails going to a store that has a decent selection of beer beyond things with, "Light" and "Lite" attached to them and purchasing bottles that look interesting and then drinking them. MUCH easier than puffy painting. Plus, you DO NOT want to see my art skills. And if you do see my art skills they are probably BETTER after Craft Beer(Hold)Man Night and a few beers.

OK Beer, right, this one is from New Belgium in the Rockies, yes the sell out brewery that brought us Fat Tire that to me now tastes more like Flat Tire(Lame, I know). We used to have a fraternity brother from Colorado bring it to us back when you could only get it direct from the state and it was SOOO much better. It just tastes watered down now. I was pleasantly surprised by 1554 though. Dark chocolate brown color with a light tan head. Chocolate and coffee on the nose. A bit of hops but not much the malty sweetness definitely dominates but not overwhelmingly so. It's well balanced. This tastes like a light bodied porter. Roasted malt, no burnt flavors. A little bready, yeasty action. All in all a good beer that if forced to drink a lot of, I would not complain. At 5.5% abv I COULD drink a lot of it. Only problem is it seems to be a bit hard to find. I see it at Bevmo every once in a while and at Whole Paycheck as well. Pick up a 6 if you see it, you won't be disappointed.