6.5

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

33cl bottle. A clear dark brown beer with a beige head. Aroma of mild smoked dark malt, brown malt. Taste of mid sweet smoked dark brown malt, bacon, high carbonation.

6.3

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5.5

Bottle at home. Opaque dark brown color, fairly white head. Aroma is malts, roasty and smoky a bit. Flavor is similar. Fizzy carbonation, decent body but that high carbonation is really annoying.

5.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5

Fles 33cl thuis. Zurig, bittertonen, wat melkchocolade, rood fruit, caramel, klein beetje rooksmaak, maltig, redelijk koolzuur. (8-10-2021).

6

Best drinkbaar, maar de Porter style komt er wat flauwtjes door.

6.4

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Dark brown with massive head that fizzes out quickly. Aroma has some sweet malts. Flavour too. Also some caramel and light smoke.

5.1

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5.5

Original rating from 2018 ( entered 2019 ) Pours dark brown, smell is diacetyl. Taste is full, diacetyl, sweet, roasty. Way to buttery. I talked to the owner of the brand, and he refused to aknowledge there was an issue with this beer.... Wat een circus is me dat zeg... One to avoid ! 3.8/10

Re-rate 2020 : didn't get the diacetyl this time, at all. Did perceive something smokey ( turns out there is indeed some smoked malts used ) , which kinda turned the beer (lightly) metallic / metallic-like. Bready, mild bitterness. Still below average to me, but not nearly as problematic as before . rated 6.5/10 this instance.

new total score : 5.15

6.5

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

scura noce discreto maltato biscotto cacao filo affumicato morbida amaro contenuto

6.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7

Bottle bought at Zythos Bierfestival 2019. Pours hazy dark brown with a thin, lasting, foamy, tan head. Aroma of cigar ash, tobacco, smoke, roasted chestnut, earth, chicory, fondant, coffee (pad). Taste is light malty sweet, some chocolate, subtle dark fruits (raisin, fig), quite smoky-umami, leading to a roasted bitter core of tobacco, coffee & nuts. Dryish, earthy hoppy finish, lingering toast, ash, smoke, more bittering. Medium body, slick/watery texture, fizzy carbonation. Slightly underwhelming all in all, but has a nice Baltic Porter-ish character indeed.

7.6

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

Bottle from LDW, Eke. Dark brown colour, beige foam. Nose of roasted malts, coffee. Malty, roasty taste along with some light sweetness. Easy drinkable. Very well balanced. Nice one.

7.1

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

Newish ‘circus beer’ more or less in the traditional English brown porter style with the “session” specification no doubt referring to session IPA of the same ABV; steinie bottle from Geers in Oostakker. Very thick and mousy, very dense, beaten egg-white, thickly paper-lacing, very stable head on an initially clear, dark mahogany-bronze beer with bright vermillion red hue, fully translucent, misty with sediment poured in. Aroma of old brownies and dry brown bread, very pronounced iron (as in: iron shavings), pecan nuts, damp tree leaves, dry earth, bitter cocoa nibs, old coffee grounds, dried plum, granola, milk powder (from the lactose used), touch of Ersatz chocolate. Sweetish onset with a sourish undertone, hints of fig, dried banana and old raisins, medium carb, very ‘brown-bready’, lightly caramelly malt body, pecan-nutty and mildly toasty edges but clearly metallic as well (the iron from the nose – probably head stabilizer), bitter cocoa and gentle coffee powder bitterness in the end aided by herbal, tea-ish hop bitterness, but the caramelly sweetishness remains too, albeit subtle; the lactose adds smoothness to the whole, though not overly explicitly so. Still it does help to make for a somewhat fuller mouthfeel than one would expect at 4.5% ABV. Earthy, leafy and bready notes in the end as well, together with that metallic effect which keeps lingering in the background. This iron presence – in a clearly ‘added’ way – is what bothered me a bit about this beer, but otherwise I must admit that it tasted quite good, with the typical ‘brownness’ of a classic English porter and enough sweetness and sourness to counter the malt bitterness, even if the yeasty effects keep reminding you all the way through that this is indeed a Belgian ale rather than a true Anglo-Saxon porter. Interesting one though, quite recommendable, in all.