33cl bottle courtesy of and shared with Kermis. Thin ring off white head. Clear deep burgundy pour. A nice stout

33cl bottle from Firmabier. Pours nicely pitch black in color with a thin, but lacing light espresso head. wet wood, some mild smoky malty aroma, slight sourness as well. The smoke comes nicely through in flavor, thick camp fire smoke, wet wood here as well. Slightly ashy finish, dry and hoppy. Quite complex stout actually, bit light perhaps. Interesting.

Bottle from Dranken Geers, Oostakker, Nr Gent, Belgie (I think) consumed at home Sunday 29th November 2015 Pours dark brown but with a noticeable reddy glint, filmy tan head. I am cooking a Lamb Biryani so aroma wise I am struggling a little to get much here. Ok but a bit thin and this lacks a little. Fruity and a tangy beer not really beefy or stouty in terms of what I would like. Ok A6 A3 T6 P3 Ov11 2.9

Bottle bought at Diesters Bierfestival. Another new contract brewer in Belgium. The shape and size of the bottle as well as the label seem very American craft: if I didn’t know this was Belgian, I would never have guessed it. Loose but stable, milky, pale beige head consisting of almost microscopic bubbles, colour is a very dark purplish burgundy, but completely translucent and clear at first, not ’black’ at all. Very malty aroma of ’fondant’ chocolate but lightly so, very much caramel, smoked bacon, some dried orange peel, burnt toast, dry walnut, autumn leaves, hints of salmiak, cloves, dry earth, cigar tobacco, nutmeg, bayleaf, field flowers, black tea, dry breakfast cereals and finally the expected whiff of cold coffee grounds. Soft, rounded onset with some subtle candied fruit sweetness, cherry, peach and dates, surrounded by equally subtle sourish and umami flavours; soft carbo, very smooth and lightly oily body coating the mouth cavity, very caramelly maltiness with a strong toasted and nutty quality, becoming increasingly roasted in the end, with black coffeeish bitterness and quite a lot of peppery, leafy, floral and also very earthy hop bitterness, carrying quite a long way into the throat along with a hint of warming, ’jenever’-like alcohol but not overly so; the smoked malt also lingers and dries a bit. Nothing in this beer is very typically Belgian to me: not the bottle, nor the label, nor the aroma, nor the flavour. As stated above: if I hadn’t known any better, I’d associate this with Anglo-Saxon craft beers much more than with Belgian beers. I do suspect that they have been tinkering with the recipe though, seeing the older ratings here which do associate it with Belgian yeastiness, something I do not get from this bottle at all. So, in all: the old school English hops are nicely displayed and there is a pleasant maltiness to it with the smokey touch adding complexity; in terms of style, however, this is more a smoked porter than (any kind of) stout. Nevertheless: interesting to see how these guys depart from worn-out Belgian clichés and venture into the Anglo-Saxon craft beer culture without much compromise. Certainly promising and very motivating to find more about this brewer and their range.

Bottle from Bier Tempel. Almost black with a medium head. Aroma and taste of smoke, light ham, caramel and malt. The body was medium. An ok one.

10/10/2015 sample @ Bles Bierhappening, Zottegem. Very dark brown, small head. Nose has something unpleasant, light roast, sweet. Taste : nothing unpleasant but not great either, some smoke, caramel, roasted malt, sweetness.

Dark brown to black, bit hazy, small tan head. Aroma is roasted malt, smoke, some coffee, bit sugar and yeast. Taste is medium sweet roasted malt, chocolate, smoke, some coffee, dry smoked charcoal bitter finish and aftertaste, some herbal hops. Medium bodied and carbonation. (bottle, Bier Tempel, Brussels)

330 ml. bottle split with Kraddel @ Belgiuminabox. Pours a cough syrup reddish brown, small mocha head. Nose is slightly thin smoke, herb, light ashes, sugar, touch burned. Taste is smoke plastic, dry herbal smoke, ashy, coffee, light dark fruits, bitter herbs, licorice, lightly sweet but the finish is dry smoked herbs, really dries out, long thin dry finish, faint candy-sweetness. Interesting dry, thinner, light smoked beer not necessarily very stout-like but pleasant and interesting enough.

Thnx to Eugene. Pours dark chocolaty brown, good white head: Smell is bit sweet, some chocolate. Taste is thick; rich; dark sugar, dark malts, chocolatty. Nice MF and carbo. pretty good.

Bottle from Geers. Dark brown/black colour, brown foam. Medium carbonation. Aroma of ashes, roasted malts, coffee. Dry and bitter hoppy finish. Well balanced. Easy drinkable Good!