Name: Mendocino: Black Eye Ale
Brewed In: Saratoga Springs, NY
Type / ABV: Light Ale / Dark Ale mix / 6.5%
Bought at/Price: Binny's / $5.99 22oz bomber
Dennis: Eye of the hawk is such a favorite beer of mine, that when I say this beer I was very excited. Combining Black Hawk Stout and it should have been a home run. Obviously since I've made that statement you can guess how I feel, not really disappointed, but rather let down. The aroma is sweet strong malts, with a very strong taste in you mouth with a woody under taste. I suspect that if I made a black and tan with eye of the hawk and another amber beer it would taste like this exactly, but somehow I had hoped it would be just something more than a blend. Not bad at all, but really what do you gain from taking two great brews and making one mediocre out of them?
Jen: So I was expecting a lot more from this beer, being that the "bird" series is usually pretty decent. This one just seems to fall short. The aroma, which seems to consist mostly of roasted malts, is very light and barely there. It tastes of more roasted malts with a slight coffee and bitter chocolate backbone to it. It seems to have a very mild hop ending, that I almost didn't catch. To me, this feels thrown together. I wouldn't say this is terrible, but I won't be hunting it down.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5