A second version of this commissioned Vliegende Paard beer - not under the Préaris brand, mind you - spiced with giant hyssop, a plant genus native to Asia and North America, some of which are cultivated as ornamentals; except for their ornamental value, though, they are also noted for their hyssop-like fragrance, which hovers somewhere between aniseed, mint and basil. Many thanks to my colleague Kathy for this bottle! Contrary to the blonde lemon verbena version (which came first), this is a dark beer, apparently. Pours with a thick and very regularly shaped, dense, notably creamy, egg-white, very stable head sitting on an initially lightly hazy, dark mahogany brown beer with ruby red hue. Aroma of indeed pronounced giant hyssop, a scent reminiscent of anise, peppermint and even liquorish but a spicy character in its own right, deeply penetrating - and, frankly, dominating - basic impressions of hard caramel, cooked apple, soggy brown bread, unripe banana, dry tree leaves, chewing gum, vague nutmeg, clove, walnut, some faint wet dog. Sweetish onset but relatively restrainedly so, mildly estery with notes of halfripe banana (even a slight note of bubblegum but not too strong), red apple and fig, medium carbonated with some minerally side notes, 'deep' and dull underlying sourishness, rounded hard-caramelly maltiness with a clear nutty edge shifting towards soft toasty bitterishness, eventually coloured by the liquorish- and anise-like Agastache but - luckily - not too strongly so; ends with clear herbal spiciness paired with bittering toastiness and a leafy hop bitterishness, but the estery and malty sweetishness also comes through, making for a finish that turns out to be more balanced than I was expecting. The 'drop'-like features of the giant hyssop linger, with a very faint 'wet dog'-like aspect retronasally. A typical Belgian dubbel in its basic nature, but the Agastache twist sets it apart from any other beer I ever had for the simple reason that I never encountered giant hyssop in a beer before - and yet Andy succeeds in keeping this added herb at bay, letting it play with the beer's natural maltiness and yeastiness without overpowering it too much. The giant hyssop spiciness in this ones seems less strong than the lemon verbena spiciness is in the other version, but in the case of this very particular herb, I think this is a good thing. Not for everyone, but there is no denying that the spice has been very cleverly applied here - and as I have stated with the other version, only Andy of Vliegende Paard seems capable of applying unusual herbs (and even vegetables) to a beer without making it unpalatable. Well done for what it intends to be, but for me personally, this is somewhat less appealing than the very refreshing lemon verbena version, with a more dull, earthy and sweet character.