Bump in the Night is Full Sail Brewing‘s foray into the Cascadian Dark Ale style—also colloquially known as the “Black IPA” or “American Black Ale”—a new addition to their Brewmaster Reserve lineup for 2011. Their site describes it as:

New for 2011, this beer is brewed in the Cascadian Dark Ale style. The array of dark malts present a full bodied beer with notes of cocoa and slight roast. This CDA has a big floral citrus hop flavor and bitterness, reminiscent of an IPA. Gold medal winner at the 2011 World Beer Championships!

It’s 6.5% alcohol by volume and 65 IBUs and you can still find the 22-ounce bottles in the store.

Appearance: Cola brown with off-white head; less “dark” that I was expecting.

Smell: Mellow, mild hops—almost a woody note. Earthy. No roastiness at all, more of a subtle chocolate malt character.

Taste: Piney, woody, with dark notes that remind me of iced coffee. A bit thin in the same sense; hops also take on a tea-like herbal quality. Interesting, I’ll be this would be ideal on cask.

Mouthfeel: Thin of medium-bodied with an interesting hoppy dusty finish.

Overall: Different from what I was expecting for a CDA, but nicely mellow and restrained.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B-. On RateBeer, it scores 3.23 out of 5 and is in their 75th percentile.