Collaboration brew of three progressive and innovative micro brewers. Green bottle with only a front label. Moussy, light beige, irregular and thin head, eventually all but disappearing, over a very dark hazy reddish brown beer, almost black but transparent around the edges. Less strong and less complex aroma than I had expected (or hoped), still inviting though, with hints of fondant chocolate bar (especially when warming up), caramel candy, pine wood, toffee, brown bread, rhum, toast, burnt leaves and ashes, port, Worcestershire sauce, cloves, dried banana, some less elegant wet paper, rainwater and dusty cellar notes but these fortunately fade away quickly so I will not let this ruin the fun - or influence my rating too much. Lovely malty taste profile, oily and smooth, with soft carbonation, a pointy hint of candied dates and raisin sweetness at first, concentrated, blending into a rich caramelly, biscuity, toasted and bitter chocolatey maltiness, wonderful bittersweet effect, adorned with a complex hop bitter finish, peppery, earthy, resinous and even slightly grapefruit peel-like; the claim that very different hop varieties have been used, is clearly justified. To my palate, the resinous, spicy hoppiness and the soft, sweetish caramelly and toasted maltiness work very well together; a rhum-like alcohol warmth comes in the very end, powerful yet ’friendly’ and gracious. This is a Baltic porter alright, clearly bottom-fermented (very low ’esteriness’) and very malt forward, but ’pimped’ with a ’modern’ hop profile and the first one I know of which is brewed in Germany, where foreign beer styles are very slowly beginning to penetrate here and there... I can highly recommend this one to maltheads, this is a great sipper and among the best lagers I had so far.

Draught, taster at the Gänstaller brewery, many thanks to Andreas. A beige head with big bubbles. Jet black coloured body. Roasted dark malty aroma added by dried fruits. Rich taste of grainy chocolate, nuts, coffee and prunes. Roasted malty, mid-sweet, finish with alcohol warmth. Full bodied. Lovely sipper (Hallerndorf 11.10.2014).