LCI. Pretty good!

Very dark brown with big fluffy head. It's mostly like a Dubbel of Bock with sweeter elements of caramel and liquorice. Also some bitter, burnt malts too. The Saison element is present too with sweet and slightly spicy, peppery yeast.

@ l'Union, St-Gillis. Dark brown/black. Lots of roasted malts, coffee along with some dry hoppiness. Well balanced

Thick, creamy, almost pinkish head over reddish highlighted black beer. Dry, charcoal, ashes, dry hopbales, Hessian sacks. Ultra-dry start, then some roasted grains with just some mild sweetness. Really good balance! Finish presents some black chocolate. Feels better bodied than its 6% would suggest. Quite slick. Following the brewer, this ought to be the wedding between saison and porter. Marriage réussi!

Bottle sample @ BIRA BIRA beer festival #1. Brune au col fin beige. Arôme de malt grillé pointe de café avec une petite note anisé et léger fruits noirs en rétro. Palais est léger, malté, grillé sur pointe de café, retrouve un rustique de saison, sécheresse latente, pointe anisé. Une hybride entre dark saison et dark IPA belge, ici l'effet grains rustique est plus présent.

"Black saison" by, to my knowledge, the youngest of this bunch of new hipster brewing projects in the Belgian capital - possibly inspired by nearby BBP's Black Bird but in any case an original choice for one of their first brews. Initially very thick but rapidly thinning, pale greyish beige head, eventually settling as an irregularly lacing, moussy layer, slowly breaking but still remaining closed for a long time; blackish appearance, but actually a dark (and still completely translucent), hazy burgundy brown with 'old red wine'-like hue. Aroma of hazelnuts, sugared tea, raw red cabbage, lots of dry tree leaves and acorn shells, elderberry juice, pear, caramel, soggy toast, nutmeg, medlar, black pepper, tomato puree, iron and a fortunately very faint and volatile whiff of something remotely sulfuric. Rather clean, sharply (minerally) carbonated onset, stinging initially but calming down later on, unveiling aspects of sweetish fig and banana as well as sourish blackberries; resinous caramelly maltiness and some soapy 'wheatiness', restrainedly sweetish at first but quickly shifting to a rather sharp toasted bitterness, a bitterness further developed in the finish, as a fair amount of peppery, herbal, leafy hop bitterness kicks in. Lingering fruity aspects remain clean and subdued, toasted malt bitterness remains - but again, with sharp, even slightly metallic edges; spicy phenols add to the saison part of this beer, which ends dry and quenching as one can expect from any self-respecting example of the style. Whereas other attempts at 'black saison' went into overdrive with modern hopping and ended up resembling black IPAs more than anything else, this one does is right: this beer has all the crispness, dryness and spiciness as well as high effervescence of your standard saison, but adds toasted bitter, 'black' maltiness. A saison mixed with a porter, so to speak, with a somewhat 'forest'-like result rather than the meadows and gentle slopes I classically associate with saison - and why not. Very enjoyable, and promising for whatever this Annexe brewery will come up with later this year. Interesting and original, if not completely technically perfect yet: we need more of this boldness here in tradition-ridden Belgium.

Imported from my RateBeer account as L'Annexe Black Saison (by L'Annexe):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5

19/XII/17 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared with Lee Barrass @ home - BB: 11/VIII/20, bottled: 11/VIII/17 (2017-2213)

SLOW GUSHER ALERT!
Clear purple to reddish brown beer, huge beige irregular head, pretty stable, little adhesive. Aroma: some chocolate, malty, grains, dried fruits, COé, some overripe banana, hint of mandarins. MF: very lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sourish, nice roast, pretty bitter, some dried fruits, nothing sweet though. Aftertaste: pretty bitter, soft roast, hint of caramel, bit yeasty, more banana, sourish touch, get a bit boring after about half a glass.

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