Draft at Nord Holland beer festival Alkmaar ‘19. Hazy golden with an off white head. Aroma of green weedy hops, grass and citrus with light malt. Flavour is light moderate sweet and moderate bitter. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Dark brown with lasting head. Aroma and flavour have plenty of sweet red fruits. Really malty. Great body. Very smooth and rich.

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ De Schans, Uithoorn. Black with a tan head. Light roasted malts, some bourbon and some vanilla. Medium sweet taste with a fairly boozy finish. Smooth but a bit thin for its ABV.

First edition of what is apparently intended as a yearly series, a black IPA hopped with Mistral, a new and so far largely unknown French dual-purpose hop variety. Thanks Craftmember for sharing at Loik's tasting! Coarse and irregular, mousy, rather loose and open head over very dark 'caramel brown' beer with ruddy-bronze hue, translucent and not quite 'black'. Aroma of hard butterscotch candy, nut shells, dried grapefruit peel, dried figs, nutmeg, moist peanuts. Sweetish onset, candied date and red apple notes, softish carbonation, resinous and bit glueish mouthfeel; supple caramelly malt sweetish body, nutty, evolving into a spicy finish with some soft nutmeg and wormwood bitterness, yet the nutty and 'hard caramelly' malt sweetness and slickness remains dominant - making this a porter of sorts, rather than a true black IPA. Still an enjoyable, technically very decent beer, though, it just needs (a lot) more of the Mistral, I suspect.

330ml bottle. Darkest brwon colour with average, frothy to creamy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, beige head. Chocolately dark malty and herbal aroma, notes of laurel. Taste is slightly roasty dark malty, hints of cocoa, herbal notes of laurel. Slightly unbalanced, minimally overspiced, not enough integrated and homogeneous; though the laurel is not a complete mismatch in general.

Bottle at home. Gushed a little. Pours black with massive offwhite head. Sweet roasted malts, ash, licorice, black seaweed, hints of juniper and rosemary, juicy meat, wood and charcoal from the bbq. Moderate sweet and quite bitter. Inky umami notes. Medium body and soft carbonation. Muddy feel, greasy and creamy malts, quite deep roasted and bitter touch for a smoked. --- Beer merged from original tick of Rokerige Zwarte on 17 Dec 2018 at 09:25 - Score: 7

Dutch Rauchbier shared by Craftmember on the train from Bruges to Ghent after Zwanze – thanks! Thick and frothy, pale yellowish beige, barely lacing head over a misty bronze-hued chestnut brown beer. Aroma of clear smoked malt indeed, smoked bacon and smoked mackerel, moist cigarette tobacco, caramel, fig, some beef stock, soggy brown bread, plum. Dried fig and apple peel in the onset, light banana, fizzy carbonation, supple and rounded, caramelly and lightly nutty malt body, sweetish but quickly turned smoky by bacon-like Rauchmalz deliciousness, paired with an earthy, herbal hop note providing mild bitterness; the caramelly malt sweetness lingers, but so does the smoked malt aspect. Quite strongly smoked, it’s been a while since I encountered a bold Rauchbier like this. Likeable.

Bottle. Color: Almost black, very light brown head. Aroma: Roasted malt, chocolate, very light peat hints. Taste: Medium sweet, roasted malt, lactose, notes of chocolate, very light notes of peat. A little more, but still subtle peated / smoky finish. Moderate bitterness. Creamy mouthfeel. Just over medium body, below average carbonation. Nice 'probeersel'.

Bottle from Bierkoning. I searched for this style in a dozen bottle shops in Germany, Eastern and Central Europe on this trip with no luck. Five minutes in Bierkoning and I found two of them. Hazy golden amber color massive light tan head. Aroma of clove and raw brown bread. Taste is sweet bready cocoa, banana, citrus. My 100th weizenbock rating, at least for the time being.

Draught @ NHBF '18. Dark brown color. Short beige head. Aroma's: sweetish, chocolate, plastic. Retronasal: sweetish, chocolate, wheat. Flavor is sweet, chocolate. Medium bodied. Chocolatey and roasty finish.