Brood en Spelen

This is a more regular stout. Soft, mellow, smooth, fairly sweet, good mouthfeel. Maybe a slight funky hint in the background, from the aura or Morpheus that lives in the brewery? Just very well made and tasty.

Collab of Alvinne with De Molen, the double name obviously referring to the latter’s house style, specially made for Black Beer Fest. Thanks Luís for the bottle! Creamy, regularly shaped, moussy, greyish beige head quickly opening and eventually disappearing altogether; very dark warm, hazy mahogany robe, blackish in general appearance but still largely translucent. Complex bouquet: dried prunes, old coffee filters, tawny port, dusty old cupboards, toffee, candied dates, black cherries, coarse red wine, beef broth and even some boiled down gravy, blackberry jam, wet brown toast, acorn shells gathered from a dry forest floor, old dusty chocolate bars. Sweetish ripe blackberries, figs and blue plums in the onset, sourish blueberry-like edge and slight gravy-ish umami accent, surrounded by a mellow, thin, sedate rim of tartness; soft carbonation, full oily mouthfeel, very supple and thick but still feeling less ‘fat’ than expected from a 10% ABV beer, maintaining very high drinkability. Lovely nutty and caramelly malt body, big and dense, with a bitter black chocolate edge and lingering for a very long time, with this outspoken, colourful esteriness of dark fruits accompanying it in the finish, where it is beautifully warmed by a port-like alcohol effect and deepened by red wine barrel tartness and ‘dusty’ woodiness as well as subtle spicy notes. Ends soft, mellow, sweet with a tart edge and very complex. Very full, ‘rustic’ interpretation of imperial stout, almost a ‘farmhouse imperial stout’ if that makes any sense, not 'dirty' or very Bretty or anything like that, but not nearly as clean as your average American (or generally Anglo-Saxon) style stout either and just because of that, complex and very appealing. A truly beautiful sipper which indeed combines features from both Alvinne’s barrel aged strong ales and De Molen’s renowned imperial stout style.