Kerstbier Festival. Very dark brown beer with a beige head. Aroma of caramelized dark malt, chocolate, yeast. Taste of spicy and herbal dark malt, caramel, cinnamon.

Good cream-ten head over reddish-shot black beer. Very roasted nose, almost ashy, but also sweet, as gravy from the meatroast. Drier in the mouth, roasted, but again with a quite sweet, almost syrupy finish. English sweets, hints of Schwarzwald Torte. Quite thick and chewy, but also syrupy. Medium carbonation. Quite OK, not stellar.

2020 edition. Bottle from a gift (thanks to Anke with thanks to Marie-Thérèse). Hazy dark brown, small, tan head. Aroma of red apple slices, black tea, liquorice, prune, toffee, candied orange peel, milk chocolate, burnt sugar. Taste has sweet red apple, pear & prune in a soft chocolatey & toffee-like malt body, bitter edge with spicy phenols & herbal liquorice, gently toasty. Herbal hoppy finish, lingering liquorice, dried fruit & warming gin-like alcohol. Medium body, slick texture, fizzy carbonation. Enjoyable but thoroughly Belgian.

Medium, cream-tan head, over deep black-brown beer. Dry nose, chalk, liquorice and a suspicious whiff of a halogen. Dry, liquorice, wood, bit pharmaceutical. Doubtfull hint at smoke, generally sweet. Medium bodied at least, very slick-oily, well-carbonated. Bof.

Bottle sampled at Essen Winterbier festival 2015. Appears cloudy brown with a small off white head. Aroma of herbs, caramel, toffee and overripe dark fruit. Flavour is over moderate sweet and light moderate bitter. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

75 cl bottle. Pours hazy brown with a small tan head. Aroma is phenolic and toasted malt. Breadish and toasted malt. Phenolic and caramelish. Wooden, toasted and dry phenolic. Breadish and toastedmalt. Dry and phenolic finish.

Bottle at the Essen Winter Beer Festival, 2015. Poured a murky medium brown with a round off white head. The aroma is sweet malt, coffee, spices. The flavour is light sweet with a dry malt spicy yeast bitter palate. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Winter version of Zwarte Zjef made in a town near Sint-Niklaas in Eastern Flanders. Beige, thin, stable head, deep murky bronze colour. Aroma of caramelly and chocolatey malts, dried leaves, coffee grounds, raisins, spiciness. Candied fruit sweetness and malt sweetness in the mouth, hint of candi syrup, yeasty, then something weirdly soy sauce-like appears, finish roasted bitterish with another weird, medicinal touch, in an utterly unpleasant, clinical, band aid kind of way. Started off fine, ended rather... well, disappointingly, to say the least. I must, however, give this beer the benefit of the doubt: they have been tinkering with the recipe a lot since I last tasted it and considering the evolution their other beers have undergone, I suspect this beer has significantly improved meanwhile. Will surely taste again.

2013 edition Pours black , small white head Smell is herbal spices Taste is bit bitter . Very green , spices , ok ..