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

Pastry stout by a new microbrewery set up in Houffalize - very close to Achouffe - in the end of 2020 already; intended to evoke a dessert as befits a good pastry stout, in this case Schwarzwälder Kirsch ('forêt noire' in French), by adding not only the obligatory lactose but also cocoa and cherries... Thick, foamy, densely plaster-like lacing, greyish beige, very irregular and rocky head on an initially clear very dark caramel brown beer, bordering on black, with bronze-brown hue. Aroma of ground walnuts, forest floor, wet caramel candy, cherries straight from the tree, brambleberries gathered in a damp forest, soggy Pumpernickel bread, black tea, coffee grounds, sweat, kefir, old cocoa powder but no actual chocolate experience, 'Koetjesreep' perhaps, forest mushrooms, wet leather, nutmeg. Fruity onset, clear cherry tartness in a very 'natural' way, adding acidity to a sweeter core with notes of pear, medlar and fig, spritzy and minerally carb (a bit sharp for a stout), light umami notes here and there (mushrooms); supple body, some creaminess at the edges from the lactose but limitedly so and not very sweet either. Caramelly, brown-bready core, feeling a tad thinnish for a 6% ABV stout perhaps, with the cocoa - as it tends to do when not used properly - adding more earthiness and 'grittiness' than actual 'chocolateyness'. Damp forest floor effects in the end, 'dirty' and very earthy, but the acidity from the cherries brings a form of balance and keeps things lively and interesting; dull leafy hops underneath a layer of equally dull coffee grounds-like roasty bitterishness, but a restrained sweetishness and soft cherry tartness remain key till the end. By no means do I have a Schwarzwälder Kirsch experience here (this has been done so much more accurately by other craft brewers): there is just not enough creaminess, not enough sweetness, not enough chocolate and not enough 'fattiness'. With some goodwill, one could still associate the Black Forest with it I guess, but in a much more literal way: the forest floor extending into what is generally a typical Walloon stout, with lots of earthiness and a touch of 'dirtiness'. Putting all that aside and ignoring the pastry intentions, however, this is still a tasty beer for me, if you can take this amount of earthiness; it is the cherries that make this rather mundane stout interesting, almost turning it into a sour stout of sorts, in a mild kind of way. Not an unpleasant beer if you look at it that way - but expect a slick, sweet, round, desserty pastry stout and you will certainly be disappointed.