Looks:
Smell:
Taste:
Overall:
Description:
Born of a flood and centuries-old Belgian text, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale uses a lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark beer can be. In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed the original recipe our researcher, Phil Benstein, found in the library. So Phil and brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. Their first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554, a highly quaffable dark beer with a moderate body and mouthfeel. (Description provided by company)
Brewer:
Beer Style:
ABV:
5.60% ABV
Availability Frequency:
year-round
Containers Available:
bottle
draft
Locations Where Available:
nationwide
Store/Serve Temperature:
45-54 degrees F
Comments
What a dark beer should be
New Belgium's 1554 pours a dark brown, almost black, with about a finger’s width of head that dissipates after a few seconds. The smell is sweet malty goodness. Low carbonation, per the style, allows the flavors to really come through.
Those dark chocolate flavors and a dry (but not bitter) finish make this beer a keeper. Just the right amount of heft for a dark beer. It won’t make you feel like you’ve eaten a loaf of bread, but there’s enough oomph to keep you happy.
For my money, this is about as good a dark beer as you can buy in your average grocery store (again, unless you're in Kentucky). There are certainly better, richer, more chocolatey, malty brews to be had out there, but good luck trying to drink them at home. If they're bottled at all, they're tough to come by. 1554 is available in tons of places, and you won't feel terrible if you drink more than one (unlike a lot of those 12% behemoths).
Generic dark beer
1554 is dark caramel in my glass with a dense beige head. This smells mostly of "generic" roast - neither particularly coffee or dark chocolate. The taste is mostly of a milky cup of coffee.