Bottle from Craftmember, cheers mate! Artisanal beer from the Dordogne region, apparently intended as a dry stout. Gusher, with foam creeping out of the bottle neck for minutes on end, but slowly so, so manageable. Creamy, moussy, pale greyish beige head, stable on the edge but dissipating all but completely in the middle, over a black beer with chestnut brown hue on its edges. Aroma of gravy, toffee, caramel candy, damp soil, lots of FFF (freshly fermented farmland), leather, dried sage, ’fondant’ chocolate, soy sauce, dried brambleberries, ’haemoglobin’ iron, beef stock, stale sweat, fermenting tree leaves, porcini, coffee grounds, horse steak juice, tea. Clean onset, some dried fruit sweetishness (fig, raisin), sourish undercurrent, heavy gravy- and soy sauce-like umami flavour, soft carbonation, slick and oily mouthfeel. Nutty and toasty malt bittersweetness, toffeeish aspects with a thin metallic (’bloody’) edge, working straightly towards a dryish finish with herbal, leafy hop bitterness, bit resiny and lightly spicy, matching well with a late but effective roasted malt bitterishness; peppery hop notes continue well into the throat with a dryish effect, but it is the toasty, nutty malt bittersweetness that keeps prevailing. Acceptable apart from the gushing, but obviously lacking in complexity and depth, as is the case with most French craft brews. Well-intended attempt at a dry stout, sure, but chauvinistic France still has a long way to go if they want to truly make a difference in the international craft beer scene; that said, they surely have the potential to do so, if they start applying their immense know-how about wine to beer, like the Italians have been doing. And considering the amount of activity going on there in terms of hobby brewing, I remain convinced that within several years from now, truly great things may come out of this country. For now: never had any French craft beer so far that matches the high quality standards of the best creations by countries that are already well-established in this field, and this gushing, straightforward stout will not change my mind about that, I’m afraid. Still a lot better than I expected, though.

Bottle 330ml. @ [ First Official Randers Tasting ] by HenrikSoegaard, at HenrikSoegaard house, Randers, Denmark. [ As La Margoutie Biere Noire ].Clear dark red brown color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, mostly to fully lasting, beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, burnt, coffee - strong coffee, tart roasted. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet and light moderate bitter with a long duration, roasted, sugary sweet dark malt, tart roasted notes. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20150124]

Bottle. Creamy White good mostly lasting head. Black colour. Moderate malty and hoppy aroma. Average moderate bitter flavor. MOderate bitter finish. Oily palate.

Bottle @ First Official Randers Tasting. Pours slightly hazy very dark brown with small off-white head. CLear aroma of roast and yeast, with notes of malt and touches of hops. Bitter, roasty flavour, with notes of coffee beans and hops. Sourish and roasty aftertaste. Light to medium body. Not bad.

Bottle @ First Official Randers Tasting. Nice head with good duration. Color is black. Aroma and taste are roast malt, chocolate, cocoa, nuts and hops.

33 cL bottle. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is roasted malty and chocolate. Roasted, dark malty and breadish. Roasted dry and chocolate into the finish. Roasted into the finish.