Bottle. Almost black color, coffee foam. Aroma: wine, apple, esters, a little whiskey, caramel. Taste: caramel, wine, roasted, a little whiskey, ash, warming.

One of the new White Pony creations, brewed at Het Nest, their new home after the Gaverhopke debacle (if I may say so). No gushing this time... Irregular, tanned beige, lightly lacing head leaving a thick moussy rim and flat ’islands’ of foam in the middle, over a black beer with hazy ochre-brownish edges. Expressive, sweet and perfumey aroma of ’Haagse hopjes’, candied cherries and cherry resin, liquorish, overripe blackberries, lots of caramel, dark ’fondant’ chocolate, molten brown sugar, some molasses indeed but not too explicitly so, Liège pear syrup and pear brandy, coffee cream, cappuccino in powder form, hazelnuts, young ’jenever’, peppermint, treacle, brown rum, dried banana, glue, raw red cabbage juice, stewed apples, butterscotch candy, hints of green bell peppers, shoe polish, tea. Sweet, candied onset, black cherry juice, overripe blue plums and lots of raisins, sourish undercurrent, very light umami accent, medium carbonation (initially a bit much perhaps for a 10+% stout but calming down eventually), slick and oily mouthfeel, full and a tad viscous, yet not as viscous as it could have been seen style and ABV. Nutty and toffeeish, mouth-coating maltiness ensues, remaining pretty clean in all, shifting to toasted and eventually roasted coffeeish bitterness, the ’end’ bitterness enhanced by a peppery hop dosis as well as the peppery effect of whisky-like alcohol, which heats up the throat after swallowing; the perfumey liquorish- and caramel candy-like impressions return retronasally, even a touch of peppermint, lifting the whole thing up. As for molasses: there is a treacle-like, ’black’ and syrupy quality to this without descending into cloying sweetness, in accordance with the typical properties of molasses so I get the idea. I have had many a bad experience with White Pony during their ’Gaverhopke period’ and almost gave up on them at a certain point, but obviously the move to Nest was a good idea and it is undeniable that their beers have significantly improved since then, certainly from a merely technical point of view, which is a necessary, basic issue for me in reviewing any kind of beer. This one is correctly executed in all respects, nicely bittersweet with a cherry resin-like ’perfume’ and very liquorish-like flavour to it which I imagine will divide opinions - but again, there is no denying the technical accomplishment of this beer. One bottle is enough for me, but that goes for a lot of these very strong stouts of course, and the fact that White Pony can present decently made beers now that they work at Nest, deserves a certain merit. Enjoyed it, in all, even though it does not quite appeal to my personal taste.

zwart met bruine kraag. aroma van zoet, vanille, geroosterd, chocolade, lactose. smaken zijn zoet, vanille, geroosterd, gebrand, dessert, matige body, matige co2. ok --- Beer merged from original tick of Stand & Fight - on 18 May 2018 at 14:03 - Score: 7

Bottle @ home shared by Joes. Opaque black color, small to average sized light brown head. Aroma is malts, lightly dark malts, but what strikes me the most is the association I get with alcohol and green plants. Taste malts, lightly liquorice, also slightly green plants and a bit alcoholic. Molasses? I don’t get it. A bit thin bodied, average carbonation. Hmm ok but not great.