One of these hip designer beers from Omnipollo with minimalistic front label and back label making use of a vintage, sixties-like font. Made with marshmallows and vanilla, bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck. Medium thick, lightly lacing, pale brownish beige, moussy head over a black beer with burgundy hue only visible at one millimeter off the edge. Very strong, intense aroma making its way to my nostrils from half a yard away, delivering impressions of roasted walnuts, bitter as well as milk chocolate, fine espresso, charcoal, dry vanilla beans indeed, hazelnut paste, sesame seed, old red wine or madera, unsmoked cigar tobacco, bayleaf, whisky, heavily toasted brown bread, almond, dried porcini, varnish, charcoal, ’green’ juniper berries, burnt sugar, cold black tea, wet leather, candied dates, old dried rosemary, mocha ice cream, black peppercorns, liquorish candy, old dirty rubber somewhere, burnt tree branches. Intense and rich onset of dried and candied fruits, sweet but not cloying, with hints of dried fig, raisin and blueberry, surrounded by a strong and adequate porcini-like umami ’meatiness’ and an underlying basic sourishness, soft carbo (so this is clearly batch #2 - luckily, because I probably would not like the uncarbonated version as much), creamy, oily, smooth mouthfeel. A rich texture of dark malts unfolds in the middle, thoroughly nutty, toasted brown bread, bitter chocolate, while the dried fruit effects linger a bit and spicy notes show up towards the finish, where an ashy, roasted, coffee-like ’blackness’ fills the mouth, with the perfect degree of bittersweetness; old dried kitchen herb effects show up as well, probably hauling from the real vanilla beans and / or the marshmallows. A deliciously peppery, pungent hop bitterness and the expected warming or even slightly heating, whisky-like alcohol round things off and make for a spicy, very pleasantly bittering ending in which the sweetish nuttiness persists as well. There is a kind of ’green’ and leathery quality to this stout which I can hugely appreciate and which strongly reminds me of De Molen’s great stouts (probably no coincidence as this was effectively made there), it has the right texture, the right balance of sweet and bitter with umami adornments, sufficient complexity and richness while at the same time maintaining a remarkably high drinkability - this is, like most of Omnipollo’s artistic beers, a beautiful, captivating, inspired brew in all senses. A black beauty from one of Europe’s most exciting craft breweries - I’m glad the purist in Henok stayed at home the day this was conceived...

On tap at Borefts 2016. Pitch black lasting tan head. Intense chocolate some marshmallow some dryness. Delicious. Rather good.