Roos = B(l)ack (BA Millstone)

Barrel aged version of Roos = Black, made for the 7.5 year anniversary party of the BeerTemple, but tasted weeks later at ’Cause Beer Loves Food, which is part of the same chain of craft beer venues in Amsterdam. Lightly lacing, creamy, pale yellowish beige, stable head over a very dark burgundy-tinged bronze beer, blackish but still largely translucent. Aroma of coconut, milk chocolate, vanilla, candied fig, bourbon, wet oak wood, black cherries, cinnamon, hazelnut paste, leather, butterscotch, brown rum. Clean fruity onset, candied banana, fig and raisin sweetness with a light umami touch, soft carbo, full, thick and oily mouthfeel. Very thick, toffeeish malt sweet core coating the mouth cavity, shifting to ever more dark colours of bitter chocolate and sugared coffee, leading up to a stunningly beautiful, long and complex finish involving a truckload of lingering malt bittersweetness with chocolatey character, decadent coconut flesh sweetness (though notably less expressively so than in the regular version), soft woody tannins, retronasal vanilla-ish oak, spicy hops and a long-stretched sweet booziness of bourbon. The regular Roos = Black is a thing of beauty, this one ups the ante and achieves nothing less than world class, holding its own against many of the great American BA stouts. Majestic.

Tap @ Beertemple, 15 cl sample. Dark color, short frothy head. Aroma has less coconut than the regular version, but adds a soft vanilla and cookie whisky presence. Barrel comes through in flavor as well, but all quite delicate. Coconut is pushed backwards a bit more. Splendid balance, wonderful beer, even though I preferred the regular version because of the luscious coconut.