7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bouteille 33cl, BB 23/04/2021, lot# XE/002-003.
Brune foncée voire noire, col épais crémeux café au lait presque moka.
Arôme est bien malté sur des notes de grillé, caramel noisette, le fumé perce finement en rétro-nasal - sans être trop dominant. Houblonné est léger sur les agrumes avec une touche un peu résineuse.
Palais est bien orienté sur le malté - retrouve un côté chocolaté amer, grillé versant sur des notes de cendres - rappelant ce côté fumé, léger café, caramel. Le tout est rehaussé par un houblonnage plaisant qui le propulse vers un porter type américain qui oscille vers les frontières de la Black IPA.
En retrait, petite pointe caramel, agrumes et pin.
Belle réussite même si j'aurais aimé avoir plus du caractère fumé.

8

BB 23/04/21, Batch XE/002-003, part of the noble gas one of series; Convincing porter aroma with addition of smooth smoke, smoked meat, loads of toasted bread, brown bread, brown sugar, notes of caramel & butterscotch underneath, nutty & mineral hints

7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

33cl bottle from Abeervinum, Rimini, Italy. Pours dark brown/purple, practically black, with light brown, very fine foam. Aroma is smoked, coffee. Body is fairly dense, with moderate carbonation. Taste is moderately sweet, with medium roasty bitterness. Final is fairly long and roasty.

7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Flaska från Etre Gourmete. Opak mörkbrun färg med lågt beige skum. Fin rökig fodt med torv, läder, charkuterier och lite tjära. Relativt lätt kropp, men mjuk och len, måttligt rökig och ganska snäll eftersmak utan större beska eller bränsa smaker. Det ger plats åt fler nyanser från malten som som rymmer både mörk torkad frukt, bastu, läder, torv, mörk bröd och rök. Drickvänlig och riktigt trevlig.

6.4

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Dark brown/black colour. Smoky aroma, medium creamy texture, roast & chocolate, some bitterness. Not bad, but also not impressive.

6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

Black with quick fading head. Aroma has an earthy smokiness. Disappointingly thin and too gassy. Bitter, burnt malts.

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Zwart bier met mooie bruine stevige schuimkraag. Smaak is bitter met iets van bittere chocolade, mokka en een vleug rook en vanille. Erg goed.

7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

The smoked porter in Siphon's 'noble gas' series, a series of remarkable and unlikely collaborations, each one between Siphon and two other breweries one would often not associate with each other (or with Siphon, for that matter). This one was crecoated together with Galway Bay in Ireland (which makes sense considering Siphon's brewer is an Irishman) and the Dochter van de Korenaar in the Belgian enclave of Baarle-Hertog in the Netherlands. Thick and foamy, deep mocha-beige, dense and creamy, membrane-lacing, stable head on an initially clear black beer with bright ruby red hue, visible when held before a bright light source. Quite strong aroma of bitter black chocolate, smoked mackerel, the smokiness even hinting at bonfire and burnt cardboard, black coffee of two days old, toasted walnuts, dry brown bread, leather, bayleaf, dried porcini and even slight (dry) forest floor, muddy puddles and hot cobblestones first touched by rain, mocha ice cream, nutmeg, old straw. Cleanish-fruity onset, hints of red apple, fresh fig and elderberries, dim but still quite clear sourish undercurrent from the roasted grains, sweetish core surrounded by an umami edge (beef stock, dried porcini), all relatively gently carbonated, though exhibiting a lot of stone-like mineral effects as well as a subtle blood-like iron aspect. Rounded, slick, lean, oily body, toasted-walnutty and black-chocolatey maltiness with a coffeeish roasty bitter, even somewhat ashy finish - yet this roasted bitterness is balanced against an equally strong smokiness, very clear Rauchmalz effects (smoked mackerel, bacon) adding complexity and depth. A peppery, leafy hop bitter note helps to push the balance back to bitterness in the end, but an inherent soft-caramelly core in the malt bill provides a softening effect, with even a subtle sweet-chocolatey tone popping up after swallowing. Bayleaf-, wet leather- and salmiak-like aspects trail behind retronasally, while a blood-like flavour lingers on the back of the tongue, all adding some complexity and versatility. The old Alaskan Smoked Porter theme revisited, with a somewhat more fruity character and a slightly 'wilder', yeastier edge in comparison with the famous original - this one arguably has more to say, in a sense... Should age interestingly, maybe I should buy a few more bottles for that purpose. I would not say this is so 'subtly' smoked as the description above reads but admittedly there aren't enough truly 'Rauchmalz-y' smoked beers around at least to my taste; at the same time it's a very good porter as well, like Alaskan's original of this concept. Very well done, only one of the six noble gas beers let me down (Radon, see there) but this one ups the ante again and makes for a lovely closure of the series at least in the order in which I had them. Too bad there aren't any others left to explore now!

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Color: Black, beige head. Aroma: Chocolate, coffee, subtle smoke. Taste: Sweetish milk chocolate, some coffee, roasted malt and subtle smoke. Hints of nuts. Smoke is best noticed at the finish. Long lasting finish. Just over medium body, below average carbonation. Pretty smooth mouthfeel. Moderate sweet, moderate to medium bitter, medium bitter palate at finish. Nice one, although it could have some more body in my opinion.

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Draft at kaapse. A hazed reddy brown coloured pour with a fine sticky beige head. Aroma is brown sugars, faint smoke, wax, jammy. Flavour is composed of semi airy smoke, brown sugars, toast, light tang, apple, fruit cake. Woody smoke.. Palate is light tang, semi sweet, moderate carbonation. Ok.