I’m still not sure how Trader Joe’s sells so much good beer for less than $6 a six pack ($5.99 in this case but still, dammit!) but they do, and it leads me to try a lot of relatively obscure brews I otherwise would never have found.

But it’s well they do. Black Toad Ale is true to its name with a few surprises. It pours out into a deep, dark beer. Black-brown. No reddishness, just dark. There’s not much head but there is plenty of flavor, dammit. Deep roasty malts give the beer a toasted bread flavor. This is braced by a subtly bitter hop presence. The hops aren’t sharp, aren’t pronounced, but they do their job.

You get a malty, semi-sweet, very dark beer. It’s not wild in any way but it’s very satisfying. I think.