One of Totem's latest beers to date, a stout intending to evoke gingerbread, but Totem would not be Totem if there was not some kind of special twist involved: instead of 'plainly' flavouring the beer with gingerbread spices (in itself a practice that would even predate the great craft beer movement, at least its arrival in Europe), gingerbread infused malt was used. This means malt which was 'treated' with gingerbread flavours, i.e. cinnamon, ginger and hazelnut and sometimes others, so that this spice effect is already deeply 'etched' in the very raw material itself and does not need to be added afterwards in the brewing process anymore. This technique is only a few years old and has so far been most famously applied by Wooden Robot in North Carolina; there is a Dutch precedent apparently (by Huttenkloas) but this one surely is the first in Belgium, like several other of Totem's long list of fascinating creations so far had a pioneering position in this country. Many thanks to the brewer himself for the cans! Thin and loosely knit, immediately open, pale beige ring of bubbles on a black beer with hazy burgundy edges. Aroma of black peppercorns, raw cinnamon, young bayleaf, black chocolate, crumbled blue cheese, ground hazelnuts, cold pasta, dry caramel, ginger powder, candle wax, coffee, burnt toast. Sweetish onset but restrainedly so for a postmodern flavoured stout, dried medlar and fig perhaps, with a faint soy sauce umami on top; softish carb, thick dry-caramelly and black-chocolatey core, very toasty and deeply bittering with a large part of that bitterness not coming from the roasted grains, but from the spicing infused in the gingerbread malt. Cinnamon, pepper, clove and ginger flavours all act in harmony by providing a very tangy, or to quote the brewer himself, "assertive" spiciness, amplified by spicy hops, roasted bitterness and warming gin-like alcohol. Very intense due to this gingerbread malt - perhaps even a bit too intense, but such is the boldness and innovative avant-garde approach we all know and love from this brewery. Not one for the masses, and frankly I am unsure whether this peppery, almost wry 'assertiveness' will mellow down just by ageing... A must try for sure, if only for the daring novelty character it boasts - Totem is back, that much is clear.

27/IX/25 - on tap @ Gents, no, Kwatrechts Bierfestival (Heilig Hart Brouwerij, Kwatrecht), BB: n/a (2025-951)

Slightly cloudy deep blond beer, small creamy dense off-white head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: very yeasty, spicy, floral touch, some overripe banana, a bit earthy, leathery, liquorice notes. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, spicy, lots of gingerbread, some cinnamon, a hint of caramel, cloves, a bit spicy, nice! Aftertaste: slight chilli burn, a bit sweet, some honey, lots of gingerbread, liquorice, some aniseed, couque de Dinant, some caramel notes, nice one!

27/IX/25 - 33cl can @ Gents, no, Kwatrechts Bierfestival (Heilig Hart Brouwerij, Kwatrecht), BB: n/a (2025-949)

Slightly cloudy pale blond to whitish yellow beer, small creamy off-white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: all hotdog water, very smoky, a little floral, a yeasty touch, some green banana. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: gentle acidity, some wheat, nice smoky touch, some more hotdog. Aftertaste: a bit watery, smoky, some citrus, grains, nice.

On tap at the Brugge Beer Festival 2025, Brugge, Belgium. A black coloured pour with a huge beige head on top. Rich, roasty, malty, chocolate, chilli, vanilla taste/aroma. Liked this one.

On tap at Brugge BF. 7%. Black beer lasting tan head. That is wiote the aroma. Chocolate vanilla light chilli smooth.More dark chocolate in the mouth. Light chilli. More vanilla. Light newspaper on the finish. Chilli builds. Ok