New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale - A Fine Beer

• New Belgium is a great brewery, producing one of my favorites, Mothership Wit. For some reason I have avoided their 1554 beer for some time. How can a beer with the name "1554" be any good? I was judging the beer by the label. I tried this beer by accident while out with friends. Others ordered this beer and they gave me a sample. Wow! This is a good beer. To begin with, this beer has a nice tan head. There is not alot of smell from this beer. I even asked others, and they couldn't detect even a medium smell. This is a very dark looking beer, which might put some beer drinkers off. The taste is one of sweet light chocolate, with carmel / toffee thrown in for good measure. A very slight smoked flavor is also detectable. Carbonation in this beer is low, making it a smooth beverage. I am now kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I grade this beer A.