Black Rock

(Draught at Café Derat, Utrecht, 18 Feb 2016) Black colour with frothy, beige head. Malty, roasted nose with notes of coffee, dark chocolate, liquorice and black rye bread. Malty, roasted taste with black coffee, dark chocolate, cacao and a slightly vinous finish with a generous cacao bitterness. Almost full body, with a touch of sweetness. Solid and well made imperial porter with generous flavours of coffee and cacao. Very nice.

On tap @Queen Makeda (Rome). Pours deep brown/black with a little cappuccino head. Aroma of roasted malts, mocha, licorice, light chocolate, oak, dried fruits. Flavour is light sweet and malty with a strong bitter end, licorice, mocha and bitter chocolate. Medium to high body, medium carbonation, oily texture. Well done!

Bottle at home, black beer, small head. Aroma is roasted coffee, malt, hint of dark chocolate. Taste is the same, bitter with some sweetness. bitter dry aftertaste. nice one.

Negra de espuma ocre que no dura demasiado. Aroma no demasiado marcado, notas de cacao y café. En boca presenta textura suave, oleosa, con golpe carbónico inicial. Mucho cuerpo, y sabor exquisito, tostado, malteado, café, chocolate. Amargor seco creciente. Rico Postgusto con calor creciente pero alcohol muy disimulado pese a la alta graduación. Otra gran cerveza de la casa.

Bottle sample at a tasting at Dancing Camel Florentin. Thanks Shmupi. Black with a nice light brown head. Aroma of roast, chocolate, cocoa, a bit of dark fruits. Sweet flavor with chocolate, some roast, a mild alcoholic touch, and a bit of bitterness in the finish. Medium to full-bodied. Good.

330ml bottle from Barcelona

BBE 09/14 - Pours pitch black with a massive sticky foamy head. Aroma of cardboardy roasty malts, cocoa, hints of coffee, dark chocolate and licorice. Taste is sweetish, roasty and syrupy with some hints of coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, vegetables and licorice. Finish is sweet, syrupy and roasty with some chocolate, coffee and licorice. Would probably be better from a fresh bottle.

Spanish imperial porter, curious to find out if this can beat Nomada’s Royal Porter. Very dark burgundy, blackish, but still transparent on the edges, lightly hazy, under a thin but stable, creamy, pale beige head. Aroma of roasted chestnuts, espresso, burnt toast, bitter chocolate, pipe ashes, salmiac, bayleaf, kahlua, wet leather, cinnamon, beef jerky. Strong onset of candied figs and raisins but only restrainedly sweet, with a strong black olive- or dried seaweed-like umami flavour along with sourish and salty accents, very creamy, oily mouthfeel with soft carbo, gliding smoothly over the tongue with a thick, toasted, nutty and bitterly chocolatey maltiness becoming increasingly roasted in the end, coffeeish but not overly so; finish continues the roasted bitterness, a bit charcoal-like, and adds peppery, leafy hop bitterness to the whole along with a glow of warming, rhum-like alcohol. Excellent beer for sure, but a tad too roasted (and hop bitter) for a porter - as is often the case, the boundary (if any) between a strong porter and a strong stout is completely blurred here. Could do with more sweet ’chocolateness’ to truly convince as an imperial porter. But, as said: excellent black beer.

Bottle. Pitch black with tall, fine tan head. Creamy nose, chocolate, coffee, some soy. Very richflavor, brown sugar, sweet, creamy chocolate and coffee. Then huge bitterness. Fun.

Botella. de @Señor Lúpulo. Despacho de cervezas, Gijón 09/07/2015 BBD:04/16 Color negro, espuma beige, aroma chocolate, sabor dulce, chocolate, cuerpo denso.