5.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Draught tulip at the brewpub with SuIIy on 4/8/06
Beige head lays about at cover, eventually receding (rather quickly) to a ring. Beer is a deep milk chocolate brown, near opaque with little to no lacing.
Aroma shows a fair dose of lactic acid, with British malt nuttiness, some dates and raisins and a lightly spicy Belgian yeast that is almost lost in the roastiness.
Flavor seems to contain mostly chewy nuttiness, some lightly sticky chocolate and toffee, but mainly an odd licorice and lactic note on the end that builds up on the palate, providing too much astringency, while the carbonation, quite low, is not able to clear it. Belgian yeast qualities are very light in this beer, and only provide some doughiness and brief, bare, pepper phenols. I get notions of peanut brittle from all of the astringency. Some chewiness, as mentioned, but plenty of wateriness on end too. Malts are terribly not complex (milk chocolate, dates, peanuts, astringency). Seems to be inspired by the Diabolique, but falls short in drinkability and overall presentation. A bit of alcohol sharpness after warming, as well.