Super dark, very oily rich brown and inky black coloured body with a thick-ish three centimetre tall rich brown head that fades fairly quickly, but also leaves an ugly lace on the sides and even the top of this one. Aroma of rich roasted and toasted malts with star anise, licorice, nutmeg, bread and a bunch of metallic pungency, with some alcohol here, of course. Medium to Full-bodied; Very rich malts, oatmeal and grain all here, with some star anise, licorice, malt, earth, nuts, pitted fruits and some vanilla all here with a slight kick of molasses and alcohol, but not as strong as I'd expect. Aftertaste is still rich from the malts, but some lactose, cream, vanilla and oddly - tobacco, help soften the blows of the spices and rich malts, with a slightly thinner than expected body at the end, but still packed with pungency. Overall, a nice beer for the style with a lot of dryness, spice, pungency, alcohol and sweetness with a decidedly Belgian kick that hits nicely, especially at the end. Great to sample as one from the sampler pack, and worthy of a purchase outright! I sampled this twelve ounce can, purchased as part of the 12-pack Christmas Sampler, from Costco in Arlington (Pentagon City), Virginia on 12-November-2021 for US$19,99/twelve pack, with a 'best by' date of 31-January-2022 and sampled at my house here in Washington on 22-December-2021.

Roast and coffee. Caramel, dark chocolate and musk, leather. Good balance and pretty dry and bitter on the finish. Black pour with good head and lacing. Can from mixed holiday pack.

This is the 8% version from the holiday variety pack. The aromas are kind of an odd blend of mint and roast with a little dark malt. It's o dd, for most things as I get older, I've learned to like more and more. But black patent malt is an exception, I've learned to like it less and less. When first poured the black patent showed up much stronger but later it becomes a mild roasty, cocoa nice drinking stout.