Full Sail Brewing - Bump in the Night Cascadian Dark Ale

Tonight's brew of choice was hiding in a dark corner of the fridge at the LQ store....I saw Cascadian and was immediately sold.  Cascade hops and I are very good friends.  This bump in the night is part of Full Sail's 2011 Brewmaster Reserve Line-up, available from January through March.  It's a new creation in 2011, brewed in the "cascadian dark ale style", and Gold medal winner at the 2011 World Beer Championships - winning!  I believe this brew classifies as a Black IPA - we'll have to wait and see how it tastes.  She registers in a 6.5% ABV and 65 IBUs.

The brew comes in a 22oz bottle with the standard (boring) Full Sail label.  It has a reminder that this is an independent, employee-owned brewery.  I searched around and wasn't able to find a bottled-on date, but it's a safe assumption it was brewed within the last six months. 

The color of the beer is very dark, almost a cherry black and let's just a bit of light through.  Nice full 2 inches of white head build on it.  Starting things off, the aroma is AWESOME - earthy, piney hops on top with sweet, rich cocoa malts underneath.  Also a faint reminder of sour fruit in there, boozy sour grapes?  The taste starts off with a hoppy kick - cascadian hops give me a nice slap in the face with their spicy, earthy, resiny bitterness.  Those flavors then meld into some nice roasted, sweet malts.  Roasted grains, a touch (not enough) of sweet chewy cocoa, and then chalky, boozy flavors come through in the finish.  The body is medium, with a dry finish and a hefty carbonation.   

Overall Rating:  I enjoyed the first 75% of the beer - great hop profile and some nice malt body behind it.  But the last 25% brought some odd flavors that were like a chalky form of alcohol that just threw off the balance of the beer.  Good, but not quite great.  B