Ghent is now home to a bunch of enthusiastic and creative young craft brewers (most of which do not have an own brewery yet) and it seems De Laatste Drinker, hitherto only known from Ne Veurvechter which is fine but not stellar, is now upping the ante with this spiced imperial porter. Found a bottle of this at some health food shop in Ghent, thanks Goedele for this one. Thick and moussy, very regularly shaped, creamy, deeply beige head over a near to black beer with hazy chestnut brown edges. Aroma indeed of strong cardemom seeds, embedded in hints of espresso, a lot of bitter black chocolate, toasted peanuts, brown bread, black peppercorns, toffee, leather, dried plums and an elegant touch of vanilla. Sweet onset, candied dates, dried banana, balanced by a sourish undertone of roasted barley; medium to softish carbonation, thick and creamy, full, oily mouthfeel. Very pleasant, deep, generous caramelly and chocolatey malt body, thick as it ought to be, perfectly balanced bittersweet with more and more coffee bitterness in the finish. This coffee aspect, aromatic and elegant as it is, becomes soon overshadowed by the cardemom, but the vanilla - which I was fearing would have disappeared completely, delicate as it usually is - comes up in the very end, eventually even quite pronounced, but in a genuine, subtle way, beautifully fitting in with the rest. Ends with this delicate spiciness, thick caramelly and nutty maltiness and warming, whisky-like alcohol. Bold, classy, rich and packed with flavour, I honestly did not see this one coming - if this is the direction Laatste Drinker is opting for, I can only conclude that he will and already does deserve his place among the ranks of Totem and Hedonis. One to watch - and to think that I normally do not passionately love cardemom, or even explicitly spiced beers in general...