330ml bottle. Quasi black colour with average to huge, fluffy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, dark beige to tan head. Chocolately and roasty, dark malty aroma, notes of cocoa, dark chocolate, some coffee, toffee, whiffs of cinnamon. Taste is bitter, roasty, dark malty, almost a tad ashy, additional hoppy bitterness, notes of darkest chocolate, a touch of burnt caramel, minimally metallic overtones. Watery texture, very dry palate, medium, prickly carbonation. Quite complex aroma for its low abv, immensely dry palate - good.

Irish style dry stout from this Walloon craft brewer with Brazilian flair, though in this case the Portuguese ‘breu’ in the name seems to be the only connection with Brazil. Bottle from Poseidon Beers, shared with Craftmember. Very thick and foamy, pale greyish-beige, pillowy, plaster-like lacing head on a virtually black, but in fact very dark chocolate brown, misty beer. Aroma of toasted walnuts, old coffee filters and cold black coffee, smoked horse meat somewhere, cigar tobacco leaves, burnt bread crust, roasted chicory, beech leaves, ashes. Cleanish onset with subdued sweetness, some old dried fig and burnt blackcurrant, dried apple peel touch, softish carb; dry indeed, with supple, lean mouthfeel. Light blood-like metallic edges round a toasty-bready, nutty and coffee-like roasted bitter middle, actual burnt cereals with an ashy touch, further bittered by spicy hops, turning quinine-like in the end even beyond the long roasted bitterness. Very dry stout indeed, quite old school and ‘bare’ in comparison with the rest of Atrium’s output, with no extra frills – and that is just how I like my dry stout. It seems more and more of these old-fashioned roasty stouts are popping up in Western Europe lately and I can only applaud that, surely they will long outlast that sometimes very pompous (but admittedly sometimes also delicious) pastry stout fad.

20/IX/20 - 33cl bottle from Au Village Gourmande (Dinant), shared @ home, BB: III/2023, L004/20 (2020-936)

Clear dark brown to black beer, very big aery irregular fluffy to aery off-white to beige head, little stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: very malty, grains, cow fodder, good roast, coffee grit. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: slightly sweet start, very malty, grains, hay, cow fodder, dark roast, some charcoal, bitter hops, slightly sourish touch. Aftertaste: very bitter, roasted, dry, good stuff, malty, grains, hint of caramel, coffee, charcoal.

Mocno kawowy dry stout. I byloby tyle, gdyby nie to, ze za mocno wysycony i za kwasne posmaki jak dla mnie. Tak sobie mocno

33cl bottle from Etre Gourmet web shop. F: huge, tanned, good retention. C: black, opaque. A: roasted malts, bit coffee, brown bread crust, caramel touch. T: medium malty base, roasted tones, coffee, bit cocoa, caramel, very dry on the palate, soft carbonation, very nice, enjoyed.

Bottle picked up from Etre Gourmet, Grez Doiceau, Belgium online shop drinking this sat outside at home Attenkirchen Sunday 19th April 2020 day 31 of Coronavirus lockdown. We're listening to Rival Consoles -Howl and just cooked homemade Pizzas in the woodoven tonight and I have made Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream, btw it's yet another glorious day. Pours murky dark brown, light beige head. This is really roasty, burnt toast, yes definitely burnt toast, dry, really dry, a little bitterness starts to creep through, this has a good bitter roast combination, there is a little liquorice, some really hardcore dark bitter chocolate, its like licking coal. Sweetness is noticeable only by its complete absence :-) this is an extremely good example of the style.