This is classified as an American Black Ale.  To my palate, it was most similar to one of your heftier stouts.  It was smooth, malty with a full mouth-feel and finished with a substantial hop bite.  The carbonation skewed low.  The malt side of this beer definitely is roasty and appears to have some chocolate in the flavor profile.  I loved the malt side of this beer, however, the hop side, not so much.  When the piney hops come in at the end of each sip, they definitely wipe away the malt flavors, replacing them with piney hops, quite a bit of bitter, piney hops.  I can't help but think that this beer would be so much better, with a little less hopage on the backend.  Of course, that might work against its classification of 'Black IPA', nevertheless, it seemed to me the hops here ended up taking away from an otherwise awesome drink.

Bottle Cap

Brewery Website

BeerTripper Rating

http://www.stonebrew.com/

Alcohol Concentration

8.70

American Black Ale

Ale