Flipper's Nightmare
Brasserie Atrium in Marche-en-Famenne, Luxembourg, Belgium 🇧🇪
Stout - Imperial Special Out of Production|
Score
7.30
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After many years, promises and a lot of nonsense, we are proud to present you Flipper's Nightmare, a seaweed imperial stout : An eccentric, heavy, salty, obscure and super kitsch beer!
The result is tackily(?) surprising: The heavy and gourmet side of the stout with a salty, mineral and umami touch.
An interesting beer for its content but also for its container! A work of art !
A big oil spill... pure pleasure for humans, a nightmare for Flipper!
What? You don’t like Flipper, stouts or even seaweed?? Aaaahhh those people!
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Alengrin (11609) reviewed Flipper's Nightmare from Brasserie Atrium 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Seaweed-flavoured (!) imperial stout by Atrium, created for Malt Attacks, a lovely craft beer shop in Brussels. Atrium has recently ceased operations, sadly, so I guess this one is my personal farewell to this passionate brewery, who has been at the core of postmodern craft brewing in Belgium for years (injecting it with Latin American exotism like no one did before in Western Europe) and gave me so much pleasure in all that time. I guess it says something about post-Covid beer culture that even a household name like this is being discontinued, who knows which other ones are to follow... But let us cheer up with this funny label - sporting purple wax with sparkles! - and this unusual beer with its odd ingredient. Thick and foamy, very creamy, membrane-lacing, mocha-beige, dense and tiny-bubbled, firm head on a black beer with hazy burgundy edges. Aroma of salmiak (the seaweed, no doubt) upfront, immediately followed by intense coffee grounds and bitter black chocolate, further adorned by ground walnuts, dry salted caramel, black peppercorns, gin, burnt toast, actual dried bladderwort, even a touch of brine, freshly grated nutmeg, cigar ashes, scorched cedar wood, old natural rubber (but this is probably just that seaweed again), burnt blackcurrants, hints of bonfire and pipe tobacco. Dense onset, clear umami but not in the usual 'beef stock cube' way, more salmiak-like again - with this agar-like effect to it, so clearly the seaweed speaking; sweeter notes of old raisins and dried figs sit at its edges, while a certain saltiness creeps up as well, also coming from that seaweed and persisting all the way through, though not in a disturbing way - the Dutch phrase 'zoute drop' is in order here. Carbonation remains soft, accentuating the creaminess and oily thickness of the beer; still guided by the umami and salty flavours of the seaweed, layers of darkness unfold after that, with somewhat sweet caramel but more prominently bitter black chocolate, blackened toast and espresso, the roastiness matching well with these seaweed flavours. Spicy elements pop up here and there - black pepper, nutmeg - before wormwood-bitter hops join in to support not only the herbaceous, spicy side of the seaweed but also the roasted bitterness of the malts and roasted barley, all 'warmed' by gin- to whisky-like alcohol, which remains firmly in place without interfering with the rest of the flavours. A salted caramel- and salmiak-like effect lingers after swallowing, so the seaweed is clearly very prominent here from beginning to end; yet it somehow manages to penetrate the roasty character of the malt bill and the spicy bitterness of the hops in such a way that it complements flavours rather than contrasting with them. I do not know if this is the best Atrium beer I had, but it certainly is a very clever one, if you are open to it. I guess this is goodbye then, and I want to thank Valéry and Paula, both being the sympathetic people that they are, for bringing so much innovation and creativity to the Belgian beer scene in all those years. Your colourful brand, your beers and your bright personalities will be severely missed.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Flipper's Nightmare from Brasserie Atrium 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
On tap at Moeder Lambic Fontainas, pours black with a small tan head. Aroma brings briny seaweed notes, medium roast, and earthy notes. Flavour has fairly intense roast, with seaweed, and a touch of soy sauce. The seaweed somehow works in here. Not too briny, and the roast works nicely. Good.
Sebletitje (15877) reviewed Flipper's Nightmare from Brasserie Atrium 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Bouteille 33cl, BB 10/2028, batch# L038/23.
Sortie des idées farfelues de Malt Attacks – une collaboration avec des algues. Sympa, dispo chez Malting Pot, merci Sam!
Brune foncée/noire, huileux léger filament doré au verre, col crémeux blanc-cassé.
Arôme sur un nez plutôt malté, caramel, toffee, chocolaté, pointe salin/minéral/végétal de l’algue mais sans être trop présent. Sans le savoir, il eut été facile de passer à côté.
Palais sur une base assez belge malgré le caractère de stout initial – effet ‘dark strong ale’ ; les algues confèrent un léger caractère salin/minéral pas spécialement trop présent. Collant aux lèvres, fini sur un sucre résiduel, malt biscuité/candi, effet un peu speculoos mousseux et doux sur la fin.
tderoeck (22711) reviewed Flipper's Nightmare from Brasserie Atrium 2 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 7
23/II/24 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: X/2028, L:038/23 (2024-115)
Clear dark brown to black beer, creamy beige head, little stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: caramel, some chocolate, pretty roasted, a hint of soy sauce, a little oxidized. MF: soft carbon, full body. Taste: pretty salty up front, a good roast, coffee, dark chocolate notes, a bit sourish, a little funky, soy sauce, salty. Aftertaste: more roast, some alcohol, coffee, dark chocolate, pretty bitter, hoppy, oxidized, soy sauce, pretty salty finish, bitter ending.
Bierridder (4318) ticked Flipper's Nightmare from Brasserie Atrium 2 years ago