Kompaan from The Hague surprised the craft beer community last year with their Foreign Legion series, freewheeling on established beer styles - and this 'wild imperial stout', as that is basically what this Brett Brawler is, seems no exception. Medium thick, pale brownish beige, small-bubbled and dense but opening, shred-lacing head, very dark chocolate brown robe (as good as black) with ruddy mahogany edges. Very 'deep' and intense nose of indeed pronounced Brettanomyces (horseblanket, wet leather, moldy tree leaves, whiff of stale armpit sweat), heavily weighing on impressions of reduced gravy, meat broth, bitter chocolate, coffee grounds, salmiak, old red wine, Worcestershire sauce, old raisins, white rum, soy sauce, calvados, old wet wood, brown bread crust, ground hazelnuts, dried blueberries, blood. Fruity onset, very 'dark', dried blackberries and blueberries, fig, some vague pear, lively carbonated and contrasted with a rather heavy umami presence of gravy and teriyaki; walnutty and brown-bread-crusty malts, lots of toastiness, generally dry with little sweetness (I guess most of the sugars have been eaten by the Brett by now), blood-like iron aspect at the edges but not in a disturbing way, ending with roasted bitterness (as in black coffee grounds, even coffee filters) that gets enhanced by spicy hops, warming whisky-like alcohol and woody tannins. Lots of Brett effects too, even urine and sweat, but mostly in a more 'noble' way of laying a thick layer of wet leather upon a drying, warming, spicy, eternally long finish. Black peppercorns, soy sauce, cold black coffee and booze (whisky) spring to mind as the last remaining impressions. Apparently a mashup of different beers (leftovers from earlier experiments I assume) refermented with Brett - a bit of brewer's hocus pocus I suppose and not the first time this is done, but it kind of works, even if some of the many flavours rushing around in this beer do not seem to get along yet. This is very clearly one of those rare beers that need (a lot of) time to truly shine: even after a year, some of the flavour components still seem to clash a bit and the whole still feels a bit harsh, but I am confident that with another year of ageing, that issue too will be solved - leaving us with a potentially truly great beer. 'Very promising' is a phrase I have used before, but rarely so appropriately as with this one. Impressive, like the other Foreign Legion beers, but for the time being, quite demanding as well.

Bottle. Deep dark brown color. Caramel and apple syrup in the aroma. Full bodied. Apple syrup and moderate sourness next to the sweetness. Soft bretty notes, caramel. Hint of licorice. The complexity is there.