45 Vrijbuiter

Bouteille 33cl, BB 02/04/2015. Ambrée, col épais blanc cassé, crémeux. Arôme malt, caramel, léger chocolat, note de levure avec un rétro-nasal grains-poudreux. Plais est malté, grillé moyen gardant un léger profil caramel prenant. Note fine grillée le tout ponctué d’une belle amertume houblonnée laissant apparaitre des pointes de citronné. Palais conserve une pointe légère de chocolat pour une fine amertume, le tout collant légèrement aux lèvres, et rappelant la mélasse - sucre brun. Fruité noir léger en fin de bouche.

From tap. Pours hazy dark brown with a deep amber glare and a small off white head. Aroma is sweet caramelish and pine hoppy. Toffee. Bitter, toasted malty and light caramelish. Dry, bitterand pine into the finish. Quite hoppy for a porter. Yeasty fruity too. Lingering liqourice and roasted malty finish.

Bottle at Bierspeciaalcafe De Paas, Den Haag
Brown color with large beige head. Mild caramel aroma. Caramel flavor with hints of roasted malt and chocolate, lightly yeasty, with a light final astringency, not a true Porter; ordinary bitterness.

This is no porter, it’s a dubbel. Kind of average. A shame, I expected more from kompaan.

330ml bottle. Hazy dark brown colour with huge, frothy to creamy, fairly lasting, moderately lacing, beige head. Caramel and dark malty aroma, hints of caramel, toffee, milk chocolate, some dark fruit, spicy yeasty overtones. Taste is moderately sweet dark malty, notes of black cherries, blackcurrant and other dark fruit, some milk chocolate; prickling carbonation. Well balanced, nice mixture of fruit and chocolate notes.

Gushing to huge rusty tan head, persistent over totally opaque brown-black beer; Roasted/burnt/breadcrust-like nose. Brown candi sugar, partly scorched. Coffee, ashes, bitter chocolate, dry brown leaves. Hops present, but not prominent due to all the roasted steroids. Bit of banana retronasal, finishing sweeter. Very slick, smooth, but not more than medium bodied. More than decent - and their own description fits the bill. No attempts at true greatness, however.

Bottled. Dark brown color, huge light brown head. Aroma of dark malt, coffee, bit spicy, licorice, toffee, cookie, hint of laurel. Lots of different aroma’s, but all very soft. Medium sweet taste, medium bitter, quite dry, slight thin. Bit too much carbonation. It’s very much alike a porter with the coffee and the quite high bitterness. But then, the belgian yeast (though not too outspoken) and the added sugar (which probably makes it thin bodied) give the beer an interesting belgian twist. I wonder whether they made the porter/dubbel mix on purpose or that they were actually trying to make a porter, but were too ignorant. I hope the first (then it’s pretty neat), but the latter happens way too often in the low countries. For now, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Edit: after tasting the Kompaan 20, there is no doubt anymore. They have no clue about styles. So this will go down 0.5 point. Bummer.

bruin/zwart, ondoorzichtig met schuimig bruine kraag aroma: uitstekend, moutig, chocolade, koffie, toffee, caramout, gebrande mouten. smaken: matig zoet, licht bitter, stevig gemout (aard-, geroosterde-, cara- en gebrande mouten), iets van banaan medium body, glad, normaal co2, afdronk: lange nadrukkelijke stevige volmoutige smaak

33cl Bottle from ABC Beers. Dark brown colour, thick light-beige head. Aroma of semi-sweet chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, light spices. Flavour is medium sweet, roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, toffee, dark fruits, light spicy, bitter roasted finish. Medium-bodied. Nice and tasty dubbel with extra roast.