At Bruges Beer Fest 2017. Pours jet-black with a small brown head. Smells like coffee. The aroma contains coffee, roasted malts, licorice and chocolate. It tastes medium sweet and medium bitter. Soft carbonation, creamy/oily texture. The alcohol is extremely well hidden. So dangerous, but so good.

9th February 2016
Opaque dark brown beer, tidy pale tan head. Palate is airy and dry, decent fine carbonation. Fluffy dark malts, tangy. Touches of spice and spirit. A little dark chocolate. Airy semi dry finish. A bit clunky, shows it’s abv.

Bottle thanks to Stuu666. Dark brown to black with a decent fawn head. Dark chocolate, toffee, smoke on the nose. More of the same on the taste. Some nuts and marzipan in there too. Good beer.

Bottle at appellation. Pours black, nose is chocolate, toffee, liquorice, taste is dry, sugary, fizzy, marzipan.

Another of those White Pony beers brewed at Gaverhopke. Imperial stout with very dark mahogany colour, only visible at the edges as the rest of the robe remains black; medium thick and - especially seen its huge ABV - relatively stable, light beige head. Fairly strong aroma of dry red wine, coffee grounds, cigar ashes, raisins, roasted chestnuts, balsamic vinegar, charcoal, leather, liquorice, chicken soup, passion fruit, lemon peel touch, peated whisky, ’oude jenever’, rye bread, burning leaves, fish sauce, beef, brown sugar, banana liqueur, hint of phenolic varnish or shoe polish. Dried and some candied fruits in the onset, dates, raisins and blackcurrant, sharpish minerally carbonation (overcarbonated for this style), sourish and sweetish flavours in balance with each other, making room for a deep, thick, caramelly and nutty maltiness adorned by spicy yeastiness, but perhaps a bit less ’oily’ and fat than I am used to from this style; towards the end, a fairly strong and fondant chocolate-like roasted bitterness sets in, long-lasting and accompanied by a sharper, leafy hops bitterness as well as a warming, but in all very bearable, ’jenever’- or wodka-like alcohol presence and lingering carbonation; the last impressions are a tingling carbo sensation, oily maltiness, residual sourishness, warming alcohol (though not obnoxious at all) and a mouth-filling, roasted and lightly peppery hoppy bitterness. Not bad at all, but it does feel very ’Belgian’, a tad too sour in nose and mouth, and for an imperial stout I also find this overcarbonated (point off on palate for that). The ABV is very impressive and in all very well hidden, at least in the taste (not so much in the effect this has on the head), but unnecessary; it is the third time I feel this brewery is trying to impress us with ’big’ beers but this could function equally well - or perhaps better - at, say, 9 or 10% ABV. Still recommended though, but handle with care. I blame myself for being too impatient with this: I bet this ages very well, and by losing some of the carbonation over a five years period, it probably only becomes better, especially since the sourish component may act as a preservative. I do like these guys’ labels: if the beer is meant to be dark, the arty labels aptly illustrate that. Pondering about this, I’d call this ’the Raven’ rather than ’the Crow’, as the raven is considerably bigger (but not necessarily darker) than the black crow... Perhaps there is a 17% ABV version of this coming up under that name?

Bottle. Opaque black liquid with small tan head. Aroma of dried fruit, licorice, toffee, vanilla and chocolate. Taste is light to medium sweet and light bitter with notes of licorice, dried fruit and light leather. Some rubbing alcohol. A bit sour. Medium to full bodied with low carbonation. OK bur unrefined.