Bottle @ fonefan tasting. Black with a beige head. Aroma is sweet, roasted malt, chocolate and coffee. Flavor is quite sweet and rather bitter. Dry and roasted rather bitter finish with a warming alcohol. Oily. 290815

Cheers Rene, here’s to 10k! (Damn, that rhymes). Proud to have done some of them with you.
Black, creamy tan head. Aroma of caramel, roasted malt, coffee, milk chocolate, pralines. Sweet malty flavour, caramel, malts, cacao. Quite sweet finish, some vanilla. Nice brew.
(draught @ Van Moll brewpub, Eindhoven)

33cl Bottle from the 10k man himself. Cheers pal, to many more! Black colour, no head. Aroma of burnt malts, vanilla, coffee, caramel, ashy and sticky at the same time. Flavour is medium sweet, burnt malts, tar, coffee, caramel, some milk chocolate, vanilla, bitter finish. Medium bodied, soft to flat carbonation. Good.

Tap @ van Moll during Benzai’s 10k party, medium sample. Dark color, medium brown head. Aroma of lots of roasted barley, bit coffee, touch of blackcurrant and dark chocolat. Bit sweet in taste, slight sourness of dark malts, roasty bitterness. Quite thick and quite enjoyable.

Benzai?s 10K brew. A beer to celebrate his 10.000th tick, or as he would prefer to call it: rating.I met him after he just caught the virus, I guess. He didn?t have a ratebeer account back then, but he rated something like 300 beers in his own way. 300 beers seemed like a lot to me. I just started rating and I had less than half of that amount. As you can see - that never changed. Benzai was something I?d never seen before. I?m not talking about his sense of fashion that hasn?t changed at all since I?ve met him (he actually still wears the exact same zipped hoodies every once in a while) and I?m not talking about his weight (he likes to think that has hasn?t changed too much) either. The funniest thing about him was his drive when it comes to rating beers. Sometimes then it looked like statististics were his favorite part of drinking beer. People who still think that way about benzai haven?t seen him chug barleywine leftovers, I guess. Whether it?s about statistics, beer or getting drunk: today he will get his 10.000th rating, rating his owm 10K beer and then some more. Tomorrow morning he?ll claim he?ll stop drinking and tomorrow afternoon he?ll ask me to come over to drink some beers with him. The day after tomorrow he?ll claim this is the moment he?s stepping down and everyone on the Dutch subforum will call him on his bluff.That?s Benzai. Sometimes it?s what makes you want to slap him, but it?s also what makes you want to have some beers with him and have fun about the beer, his ratings, his way too fanatic drive or the circumference of his belly. I think benzai was around when I ticked about 8/10th of the beers I?ve had and that?ll probably continue for a while. Also he?s one of the people who I owe drinking my most of my top 50 beers to, which I?m quite thankful for.Now let?s hope he will never reach 25k, because I think this rating is licking his slightly overweight ass more than clean enough for one lifetime. Last but not least I want to congratulate Sandra with Rene?s milestone. I?m sure she?s very proud and excited :p Very nice brew.

To brew my own 10K celebration beer at Van Moll Brewpub has been a pleasure and I’m honored by their generosity and willingness to create this beer with me and host my release party at the Brewpub as well. I also have to express my gratitude to my good friend Colin (dEnk) who created a recipe and made a testbatch with me and, above all, has put up with me not only during the brewday but also every time I crashed at his place after a tasting. He brews (unofficially) under the name 8-Bit and his beers are superb, so any imperfection is likely to have been caused by me. The bottle label in Van Moll house style has been made by my good friend and co-founder of our local tasting group André (Dutchdrebus), thanks for letting your creative mind work in my honor Dré! When I joined Ratebeer on June 13th 2011 I never expected to get to 10000 ratings only four years later. I was introduced to ratebeer by Joris (joes) who, especially in the beginning, guided me and others with his experience through the world of beer and beer rating. I have no doubt that I wouldn’t have been here if our paths hadn’t crossed about five years ago. A lot of the 10000 beers I’ve tasted have been shared by friends, family and other beer enthusiasts I’ve met over the years. All of these people have been very generous, sharing their beers with me and others. But before I get to that, I have to thank my girlfriend for putting up with me and this time consuming hobby. Letting me attend tastings and festivals, having people sleep over and, especially in the last couple of months, being away from her and our son every now and then just to try new beers. Sandra, you’re amazing. Last but not least I’d like to thank all ratebeerians I’ve met and hung out with for sharing beers and doing trades. The hard part is always not to forget anyone. It might be impossible, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. First of all thanks to the members of my local tasting group: joes, Dutchdrebus, Martinus, Abijen, Judyvv, ansjelaah, Countbeer and Thompson. Some of you might not be there every tasting, but you’ve provided at least a couple of hundred ratings alltogether. Secondly, thanks to the Dutch and Belgian ratebeer community: Caesar, bierkoning, MrHangover, kermis, Borresteijn, jmgreenuk, deanso, Vaiz, Douberd, Potjebier, ShivanDragon, MaartenRF10, sic1314 (NL), tderoeck, 77ships, sebletitje, JefVerstraete, BelgBeerGeek, ElManana, Beerlover_Ben, Kraddel, Alengrin and Dennoman (BE): you’re fine company (well, most of you are..). Thanks also ChrisO, Scopey and Leighton for your hospitality and for guiding me through London on several occasions. Thanks fonefan, Brugmansia, Yespr and the rest of the Danish crew for inviting me to tastings and, first time I attended one of those tastings, make me go through the most insane ticking spree ever. Last but not least: thanks to all other ratebeerians from around the world whom I’ve traded with and who’ve helped me to reach this 10K milestone. Cheers! Now then, the beer. Draught @ Van Moll Brewpub during Benzai’s 10K Beer official release party, August 1st, 2015. Opaque black color, full sized lightly creamy light brown head. Aroma is malts, lightly roast, coffee, dark malts, initially a light sweet hint. Taste malts, roasted malts, dark malts, coffee, malt bitter and a nice roast bitterness in the finish. Medium body, soft carbonation. A pleasant imperial stout, I’m happy with it. Thanks all!