25 October 2025. At “Gentse Biervereniging Kelderschatten” (Baracuna). Cheers to the whole crew!

Cold coffee, toast, old chestnut. Sweetish brambleberry, bitter coffee, tobacco. Dry, toasty, ashy finish with some earthy hops. Straightforward classic Stout.

Rikkert De Donder's second commercial creation, a strong stout flavoured with coffee, chocolate and cocoa nibs, brewed at Jef Pirens' Oude Maalderij in Izegem. Mousy, medium thick, yellowish beige, regularly edged, slowly opening and eventually all but disappearing head, as good as black robe with a warm wine red hue appearing only when held near bright light, where minute bubbles appear during swirling the glass. Aroma of cold black coffee and coffee filters, dusty old 'fondant' chocolate bars, hard caramel, toasted walnuts, cigar ashes, dried dates, prunes, moist nutmeg, burnt toast crumbs and even a very faint dash of charred steak somewhere, fig syrup, old liquorish candy (quite obviously so), freshly extinguished bonfire, cognac, vague hint of damp earth after adding the sediment. Very restrained in sweetness - especially when compared to the legions of other, often non-Belgian imperial stouts one comes across these days - but still hints of dried fig and prune, sourish undercurrent (blackberry-ish almost), dry beef stock cube-like umami more clearly present but acceptable for this style; medium carbonation, full and smooth body, oily and slick-edged. Toasty-nutty and bitter-chocolatey maltiness with a very firm, almost ashy roasted bitterness in the end, enhanced by the added ingredients; the coffee pierces through retronasally but less overpowering than is often the case in coffee stouts, while the cocoa nibs add a black-chocolatey bitter touch as well. Brown-bready, roasty and boozy effects in the end, with a dash of spicy hop bitterness further accentuating the roasted bitterness; some black-chocolatey aspects linger, while the throat is gently warmed - and luckily not harshly burned - by a 'jenever'-like alcohol bearing some light wryness in its tail. Decent enough, if still a bit yeasty and fizzy the Belgian way, but then I have argued before that a case can be made to recognize 'Belgian imperial stout' as a somewhat blurry substyle within the whole of imperial stouts; this one fits very neatly in that category. Nice one, with the added flavourings kept relatively subtle so that the beer's basic character shines through sufficiently. Would happily drink this again - and I have a feeling that it is not the last time I encounter it...