Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Layered lacey head from cream to brown, thick; black beer. Liquorice, chalk, chocolate and walnut liqueur, Nocino, leather. Walnutpeel explosing in the mouth, Nocino (bis), and tobacco. Warming up, it becomes even more liqueurish, sweet hints peeping through both roast and walnut. Very well bodied, chewy, voluptous, good initial carbonation. In the ocean of Imperial Stouts, Barrel aged/Pastry/syruped/etc/etc, something truly original and apart. Good!

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

"De roe" - I reckon I should have waited for a week or three more before opening this one, as its name refers to an aspect of the Saint Nicholas feast on December 6th (a beloved tradition in the Catholic part of the Low Countries), but this November night felt gloomy enough for a nightcap like this one: a strong walnut-flavoured stout by HopSaSam, my favourite East-Flemish supplier of strong malty beers in Anglo-Saxon styles. Medium thick, pale greyish beige, shred-lacing, dense head, breaking into flat 'islands' in the middle but otherwise stable; very dark chocolate brown robe, black in actual fact, with misty mahogany edges under bright light. Aroma of 'pure' bitter black chocolate (and very dominantly so even for a strong stout), high quality black coffee, toasted walnuts (for real this time: an actual walnut aroma, though less pronounced and more earthy than I was expecting), charred toast, burnt currants, whisky, salmiak, molasses (strong!), treacle piercing through (i.e. the brown sugar actually used here), Frisian rye bread, fresh bayleaf, roasted chicory - and coffee returning more than once, old pecan nuts, autumn leaves, liquorice and clove in the background. Dense onset, sweet from the brown sugar but nowhere sticky, with this sweetness behaving in a fruity way (dried fig, pear), plus a dim sourish undertone and a very light umami aspect (porcini), all understanding each other well; moderate carb, or actually rather sharpish for this kind of beer, adding a minerally effect piercing through a full, oily 'stout' body, but also seemingly thinning it a bit - resulting in a dangerously high drinkability. Episodes of bitter black chocolate and black coffee fill the middle, complemented by toast, dark rye bread (with this typical dim rye spiciness clearly present) and a hint of dry caramel - the walnut then setting in subtly and remaining subtle, too subtle perhaps? If anything, it seems to add a layer of wryness - think green walnut, or that bitter layer of 'skin' on a ripe walnut - which was not really necessary here; I would rather have had an actual (sweeter) walnut flavour, as in walnut liqueur, but I guess this is difficult to accomplish when using actual walnuts. Retronasally, a walnut aroma is definitely noticeable, though. In any case the joined walnut and malt bitterness is soon amplified by a profound, leafy and earthy hop bitterness (unsurprisingly at 70 IBU) which lasts and lasts. It does carry that rather wry walnut bitterness on for a while, and the coffee-like roasted bitter malt aspect travels along with it as well, all highlighted by gin-like alcohol which further contributes to an overall astringency which I think should have been mitigated a bit. Somehow - but you are the brewer, Sam - it must be possible to enhance the sweet aspect of the walnut a bit for balance, because now this walnut stout combines just a bit too many different forms of wryness (alcohol being the most annoying one to my taste); then again I do appreciate Sam's audacity in creating something like this and retronasally the walnut certainly plays the lead. Bold, layered sipper, robust and powerful, but improvable as well: if both alcohol wryness and that 'brown-green' wryness of walnut skin are toned down a bit, ideally with an increase of walnut sweetness which is also part of walnut flavour for me, then I think this "rod" has the potential to become a truly great stout and one of HopSaSam's evergreens. Consider these minor criticisms, though: I certainly enjoyed this one as a nightcap on a mid-November evening.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

11 September 2021. At Summer Belgian Beer Geek Gathering. Many thanks, Klaas & Liesbeth, cheers to the whole crew!

Hazy black, stable, beige head. Aroma of walnut (oil), black olive, coffee liqueur, toast, prune, burnt sugar. Taste has sweet date & fig under a layter of caramelly maltiness with an edge of residual (brown) sugar, caramelized walnut too, touch of umami olive. Earthy hoppy finish, toasty, nutty still though sweet brown sugar lingers too; alcohol warmth of coffee liqueur. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation. The walnut could have provided more balance, bitterness, 'powderiness' perhaps, yet it's enjoyable.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Pours black / Dark brown. Small to no head. Scent is full, sweet, mild chocolate. Dark - but not overly roasty - malts. Taste is full, sweet, mild chocolate. Tad sharp. Dry, malty, bit 'plastic'. OK though, just not great.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle @ Belgian Summer Gathering Sept' 21, Evergem. Merci Siegfried.
BB 07/2025.
Brune foncée, col blanc-cassé.
Arôme est centré sur les malts, grillés, caramel, chocolaté, mais aussi une belle note de fruits noirs - figue, pruneaux, raisins secs, rétro moyen de levure.

Palais reste très belge dans l'approche, déjà au niveau de la levure, garde une bonne dose de malts chocolat, grillé, caramel, sucre candi et douceur en fin d e bouche. Petite note épaisse, peut-être des noix ? ces dernières ne sont pas trop présentes sans le savoir. Amertume classique noble belge apportant une petite note de fruité citron, fleuri et léger terreix

In fine, se boit comme une quad belge.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

11/IX/21 - 33cl bottle @ BBGG Summer Edition (Klaas & Liesbeth's place), BB: VII/2025 (2021-1023) Thanks to Bierridder_S for sharing the bottle!

Clear to little cloudy dark brown to black beer, creamy beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: liquorice, sweet impression, sugary, alcohol, malty, yeast. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: alcohol, yeasty, roasted, spicy, lots of liquorice, pretty oxidized, dry. Aftertaste: bit sweet, some caramel, oxidized, little bitter, roasted, coffee and chocolate notes.

33 cl bottle from the brewer