Black Rocs

Flavoured stout made by old Abbaye des Rocs in collaboration with Barrel of Monks and named after the year Jean-Pierre Eloir, the founder of Rocs, officially started his brewery, in those days the first independent one in Belgium (though closely followed by Dolle). Apparently this old but importantly pioneering and still respected microbrewery has felt the winds of change sweeping through the beer world, and having been familiar with their standard beers for two decades now, I was very curious to find out what their approach to the international craft beer idiom was going to be. Thick, regularly shaped, medium large-bubbled, greyish pale beige, slowly dissipating and eventually all but disappearing head, black robe with thin, hazy burgundy edges. Aroma of liquorice, chewing gum, caramel candy, damp earth, prunes, candied figs, cashew nuts, pear syrup, cappuccino powder, brown game stock, cloves, hazelnut purée, toasted chestnuts, 'koetjesreep'. Sweet onset, cleanly fruity with hints of candied fig, ripe pear and banana, even bubblegum; quite fizzy carbonation for an intended stout, but with a smooth-edged, hazelnutty, Ersatz-chocolatey and chestnutty malt body. That slick bubblegum effect remains, while a liquorice-like flavour becomes more and more prominent, paired with a phenolic clove effect and roasted, near-coffeeish bitterness in the finish; a very earthy, even somewhat manure-like accent sets in at the back too, while herbal hops add a subtle bitterness. Both sweet-caramelly and bitter-toasty maltiness gets the last word. Not an unpleasant beer at all, but overcarbonated and 'over-liquoriced'; in any case this is a very surprising creation for Rocs, and if I had tasted it blind, I would never have associated it with this brewery. Unusual, surprising and enjoyable, but I am left with a feeling that this brewery could have done better... Still, if this is the first stepping stone to a whole new series of adventurous Abbaye des Rocs beers, then bring it on, this groundbreaking brewery deserves a new launch into the world of craft brewing as far as I'm concerned.

Pours dark brown, medium, off white and creamy, stable white head. Smell is spiced, herbal, cardamom like. Mild roastyness. Taste is full, mildly roasty, tad sweet. No real bitterness. Spices are very mild, the specific adjuncts unrecognizable to me ( tasted without knowing what should be in there.. maybe if you know ? ) low amount of a plastic-like finish, which makes this beer not as great as I had hoped and expected.

330 ml. bottle @ Beerlovers Bar. Collaboration with an USA brewery which apparently specializes in BE style beers of whom I have never heard before. Appears to be a stout with non-specified spices. Pours dark brown, lively beer with a big mocha head, slightly bitter bubbles. Nose is spice, heavy BE overripe fruit, yeast, cloves, fruit, low metallic. Sadly body & taste-wise carbonation is too high and finish is slightly metallic, profile is very clove, BE dark fruit, sugar, hazelnut, dark red grape. Love the BE profile, fruit & clove, body sadly really took it won quite a bit, still good but would have been an awesome strong BE yeast forward dark beer with better body / carbonation.