La Maline

Bottle @ DØE meeting. Clear dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is sweet, malty, roasted malt and spicy. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Sweet and moderate bitter finish. 160316

Bottle at home, black beer, small head, aroma is malt, chocolate and coffee, taste is watery, coffee, chocolate. hmm average.

Bottle from Cave a Bulles. Pours dark brown with a slight tan head. Aroma of smooth dark malt with a chocolate note. Near medium body with pretty strong carbonation. Flavor is chocolate, dark malt, and I think a coffee note. Decent porter.

"Bière noire des Flandres" from one of the more progressive French brewers, indeed a porter, which is of course everything but Flemish in style. Dense and moussy, lacing, thick, pale beige head, colour hazy dark burgundy (not black but transparent). Nice aroma of cocoa powder, burnt brown bread, blue plums, hazelnut paste, black peppercorns, bayleaf, hint of liquorice candy and coffee grounds, some dried banana, lots of caramel, clear red port wine accent. Quite spritzy for the style, perhaps a tad overcarbonated, but nicely flavoured, with a subtle raisiny sweetishness at first, a touch of dried banana and blue grape peel, developing into a fairly full, caramelly and nutty maltiness, smooth and somewhat creamy, turning lightly chocolatey in the end but not quite, aided by peppery and earthy hop bitterishness and therefore drying in the finish, but a bittersweet, resiny liquorice-like ’stickiness’ still remains, though not unpleasantly so. Nothing overly complex, but a well-rounded, well-crafted example of the style which is neither Flemish nor French.

Bottle. Black beer with a strong but soon disappearing head. The aroma is roasted with a fair degree of maltiness, and the flavour is very strongly roasted with bitterness, a gentle liquorice'ness and mild maltiness. Overall a nice stout. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle from NWAF 2015, Derby. Dark brown pour with a beige head. Coffee, soy sauce and nuts aroma. Flavours of raisin, smoke and coffee. Very dry.

330ml bottle from Beers of Europe. Pours black with a short-lived tan head. Aromas of boot polish, liquorice, tar, shellacs at 78rpm. Noisy carbonation. Taste is light sweet, more tar and memories. Watching Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon with a minute-steak sandwich. WWF in the last 1980s. Sweet, but thin finish.

330ml bottle @ Estaminet t’Kasteelhof. Refreshing dark beer with a good initial roasted malt taste, deep liquorice and a smooth bitterness. Very nice.

Aroma has plenty of roasted malts and also something herbal. Nettles, liquorice perhaps. Smooth and rich mouthfeel. Flavour has a solid bittersweet maltiness and some treacle.