Abyss of Darkness BA (Tomintoul Whisky)
Galea Craft Beers in Brasschaat, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Brewed at/by: BCB (Formerly known as Brouwerij Eutropius)Stout - Imperial Special
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Score
7.48
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Ingredients: barley malt (Pale Ale, Salty Caramel, Cara 120, Biscuit, Special B, Mroost 900, Pealed Roasted Barley), wheat malt (Karrewheat), water, hop (Challenger & Magnum) & yeast (US-05).
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Tan-russet head (with a bit of trouble building); black, viscously pouring beer. Caramel, peanuts, sweet syrup, maple, light roast. Caramel with a light mineral touch, toffee, corn, again mild roast. Ultra slick, viscous, good carbonation, alcoholheat. Take out the peanuts, the caramel, and compare it to a Guinness, maybe you stay with a good stout. Too bad for the Tomintoul barrels. Txs to Stef!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
14/III/23 - 33cl bottle @ home, BB: n/a, bottled: 12/XII/21 (2023-232) Thanks to ElManana+1 for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark brown to black beer, big creamy beige head, stable, a bit adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: lots and lots of chocolate, very malty, a bit oxidized, caramel, more chocolate, some vanilla, peanut powder impression, nice and very intense smell. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: a bit sourish up front, good roast, bitter, chocolate, bitter, coffee, lots of peanut powder, a little sweet. Aftertaste: sourish finish, some tannins, sour apples, good roast, bitter, more peanut powder, caramel, coffee touch, nice stuff!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle at home. Pours black, nose is roasted, chocolate, nutty, vanilla, a little green apple, taste is bitter, roasted, chocolate, nutty, dry finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Pours black, small tanned head. Scent is very intense, peanut, intense chocolate as well.Lovely! Barrel bit hidden. Taste is full, roasty, quite thick. Peanuts and barrel both in perfect balance, as the barrel fills up the 'void' i encountered in the basebeer myself. Medium carbo. Surprisingly drinkable. Very nice indeed !
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
The first but hopefully not last barrel aged variant of Galea's impressive Abyss of Darkness (imperial stout with salted caramel and roasted peanut flavours), aged on barrels which formerly contained Tomintoul, a familiar whisky from the heart of the Speyside region. Quite thick, very moussy, mocha-beige, regular, slowly crackling, fluffy, membrane-lacing head, slowly opening on a jet black beer with waferthin wine red edges. Intense bouquet of indeed roasted peanuts and even some peanut butter, espresso, salted caramel also very prominent, black chocolate bars, vanilla-exuding oak wood, cinnamon, black peppercorns, bayleaf, 'Haagse hopjes', oven-burnt cookies or brownies, roasted chicory, dried fig, clear Speyside whisky hovering heavily over it all, faint background hints of liquorish, clotted blood, minerals and dried porcini. Dense, sweet, 'concentrated' onset, candied figs, burnt blackcurrants, very light Maggi-like umami touch, quite lively carbonation for the style but not hindering the flavours; very full, oily, 'hefty' body, thick layers of caramel (including indeed salted caramel), black chocolate, peanuts and toasted bread gliding heavily over the tongue, picking up heat from the booze but nevertheless displaying lovely vanilla- and cinnamon-like 'desserty' aromas too. The final stage is very roasty and coffeeish, coating the mouth with a warm kind of bitterness (as well as a natural, blood-like metallic touch), even though that caramelly sweetness also continues; the oak wood is obvious enough, but soon enough the Tomintoul takes over, penetrating the beer so deeply that swallowing it feels effectively like swallowing Speyside whisky with only a dash of beer remaining. I was stunned by the regular version and, unsurprisingly perhaps, this one ups the ante and adds a glowing heat of booze - inherently connected with an actual, clear, 'deep' whisky flavour. I guess many strong stout-loving brewers still think "the bigger the better" these days, but has that stage in craft beer not been surpassed by now, after the hordes of very strong and very intense Mikkeller, BrewDog and other stouts (ignoring the American forerunners) we saw years and years ago already? In this case, I think ageing the base beer on just naked oak, or at least a barrel with less leftover whisky, would have been a more noble choice - but I admit that I am nitpicking here, this is of course everything it promises the present-day stout drinker to be and deserves merit for that alone. A little bit too boozy for me personally, but an altogether impressive 'tour de force' nonetheless.