Black. No head. Luckily the cinnamon spices are very restrained. It's more in the direction of burnt caramel/treacle. The bitter burnt notes offset the sweetness.

The newest Totem creation to date, a smoked Bock, an idea already explored by a few Dutch microbreweries within the context of their yearly Bock tradition, but - at least to my knowledge - not yet in Belgium. Cheers to Klaas and Liesbeth! Moussy, pale yellowish beige, creamy, stable head, hazy bronze to caramel brown with ruby red glow. Aroma of caramel sauce and toffee, ketjap manis, smoky barbecue sauce, vanilla (oddly, but in a volatile way), fig compote, cranberry jam, tomato concentrate, croissant dough. Sweet onset, fruity in a cleanish way with notes of candied fig, cherry jam and medlar, softishly carbonated with very slick, smooth but full mouthfeel; rounded caramelly and slightly peanutty malt sweet core with a growing barbecue sauce-like, mild smokiness and that vanilla touch retronasally; the sweetness remains while the smokiness slowly builds, but the latter never overtakes the first. Ends with a dash of herbal hops (tea) providing mild bitterishness, as well as warming, port-like alcohol; the smokiness lingers, but the sweetness keeps dominating till the end. I guess the caramelly sweet, smooth and clean character of this beer justify the 'Bock' part of its name, but for me personally the 'Rauch' part could have been more outspoken too as I love smoked beers - but this is just a personal note, because as usual, Totem delivers a very solid, delicious and creative beer here, tasty enough to chug down a few of them at the Ghent Beer Fest last weekend...

New Totem beer, a session strength sour generously fruited with mandarin and green lemon; at Ghent Beer Fest, cheers Klaas and Liesbeth! Snow white, fine-bubbled, slowly breaking head over a cloudy yolk-yellow blonde beer with apricot hue. Intense aroma of indeed ripe mandarin, vanilla, lemon zest, raw cucumber, dough, yoghurt, orange juice, candied pineapple, even Piña Colada. Crisp onset, sour in a mellowish, yoghurty way but accentuated by lots of 'citrusiness' from the added fruit, mandarin certainly present but also hints of starfruit and pineapple, lively carbonated with refreshing effect; slick doughy and cereally malt core steeped in yoghurty lactic tartness and a huge dosis of citrusiness with yellow fruit dominating (even a whiff of mango somewhere), vanilla coming up retronasally and adding to a general 'fruit cocktail' effect. The gentle sourness dries the finish but softly so, while a wealth of exotic fruitiness, citrus on top, remains the main player. Another Totem 'hipster cocktail' in beery form, very well done in its respective style and reminiscent of earlier fruit beers created by these genius brewers. Update: one week after Ghent Beer Fest, at BXL Beer Fest, Totem had apparently added a third fruit to this cocktail, namely blood orange; this version was arguably a bit sweeter and juicier than the original one containing only mandarin and lemon, but since the brewer does not apparently intend to name it differently or put it on the market as a different version in any kind of way, I guess it is this second blood orange batch which should be regarded as the 'final' one. My rating here is to be interpreted as an average for both batches.

Dark reddish brown colour with thin soapy head. Aroma and flavour are nicely smokey, quite a leathery one.

Black with creamy head. Aroma has some coconut and wood. Flavour has less coconut (fortunately). Heavily roasted bitter malts are very pleasant.

20/VIII/22 - on tap @ Gents Bierfestival, BB: n/a (2022-1070)

Cloudy blond yellow beer, small creamy white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: oh my, wow, that’s a lot of vanilla all right, buttery as well, diacetyl, smells like a waffle house with some mandarins in the mix. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: lots of tangerines, mandarins, a sweet touch, bitter notes, lots of vanilla, gentle sourness, nice! Aftertaste: more mandarins, a bit sweet, vanilla notes, decent one!

Can from Geers. Clear golden, small, foamy, off-white head. Aroma of orange peel, grapefruit juice, ripe mango, apricot, biscuit, melon, tonic. Taste has sweetish apricot, orange & mango; bitter core of grapefruit peel & pine over a biscuity, almost peanutty malt base. Dry & bitter, piney hoppy finish with resinous effect, lingering orange pith & grapefruit juice. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation. Refreshingly bitter, so to speak.