Zwart bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is bitterzoet met iets van koffie, chocolade en ietwat karamel.

F: big, pale tanned, good retention. C: dark brown to dark, opaque. A: dark malts, bit cocoa, chocolate, dark dried fruits, caramel, coffee, banana. T: malty, bit red berries, dark bready, cocoa, bit chocolate, dark caramel, bit dark fruits, bit vinous, quite simple but for me ok, medium to full body, medium carbonation, could be more complex but still good IS in a Belgium way, 33cl bottle from Carrefour market in Tervuren.

Sampled at the Just Beer event in Kortrijk, Warmenbol (not yet recognized as a beer company here apparently) has this stout brewed at Hopperd, in an attempt to connect with the vast popularity of imperial stouts internationally; from a 75 cm bottle. Moussy, medium thick, more or less stable, pale yellowish beige head, cloudy blackish-chestnut brown with mahogany glow, very dark but still translucent so less 'black' than one normally expects from the style. Aroma of fresh coffee beans, espresso, dried banana slices, lots of rum-like alcohol, damp earth, old raisins, caramel, soggy brown bread, moist chestnuts, tea, a lot of clove- and even slightly anise-like phenols, dried thyme, shoe polish. Fruity, estery onset, sweet with notes of banana and stewed red apples, sourish elderberry-like balance, medium carbonation, faintly metallic edges. 'Fluffy', quad-like malt body, caramelly, bit nutty and very bready, mild toasted bitterness, but unfortunately quickly overcome by first a whole lot of 'Belgian' yeastiness in the form of a dirty, very earthy presence in the end and a high degree of spicy, even somewhat medicinal 'phenolicness'; some earthy hop bitterness too, black coffee grounds effect and, very dominant in the end, a very strong presence of heating, very rum-like alcohol, astringent and impairing drinkability a bit. Overall sugary sweetness, present from the start, lingers along with this strong, sharp, frankly unpleasant alcohol effect. Well-intended but rather weird stout, not what an Anglo-Saxon style of beer should be so remaining very "Belgian", rather quad-like, as is the case with so many similar Belgian attempts at imperial stout these days; the dark chocolatey and toasted qualities of the malts are there, but the coffee effect is stronger in the nose than in the actual taste (alas), there is way too much 'dirty' yeastiness going on here (especially a 'medicinal' degree of phenols) and - my biggest issue here - this is way, way too boozy, alcohol should be much better hidden. Needs cleaning up, but I can feel that it may harbour the potential to become a lot better than it is now.

Pitch black, small frothy tan head, mostly diminishing, lacing. Aroma roasted malts, cocoa, espresso, dark fruits, spicy notes. Taste light heavy to heavy sweet and light bitter, roasty, chocolate, coffee, rye, alcohol notes. Sweetbitter aftertaste, roasted and fruity, alcohol, liquorice, full-bodied, watery to oily texture, average carbonation. Heavy duty stuff, quite rich but not completely convincing.

330 ml. bottle sampled. Dak brown, few tanned bubbles. Nose is blue cheese, prune syrup & raisins, very big prune syrup, blue cheese, faint Christmas spices. Nose is interesting, decent. Taste is far lesser. Bitter very dry herbal, herbs, unpleasant, dry leaves, prune syrup, thin chocolate, mainly dry unpleasant leaves, herbs, bark. Thin bark, dry with syrup. Nose is not bad. Taste is a downer. Too bad.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Zwarte Madam Blackout XXX (by Biobieren Warmenbol):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.9/5

18/IX/16 - 33cl bottle from Aldi @ home - BB: IV/2018 (2016-1023) Thanks to Jerre for the bottle!

Pretty dark purple brown beer, big aery fizzy beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: pretty roasted, sweet, lots of dried fruits, some caramel, some ripe banana, cocoa powder. MF: ok carbon, medium body, lots of alcohol, almost burning the throat. Taste: pretty roasted start, bitter, alcohol, bit sourish, fruity notes, bit of banana, more alcohol. Aftertaste: sweet, some caramel, lots of ripe banana, too much alcohol, very roasted, cocoa powder, bitter hoppy finish. Very nice beer, just too bad there's so much alcohol in it...

Pours very dark Brown to black , good white head. Smell is bit bitter, some dark malts. Taste is intense, roasty malts, bitter, thin and too much carbo.