8.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Dark barley wine from Klaas’ Totem brewery, from tap at Beerlovers Bar in Antwerp, but I actually got to taste a sample in preproduction in Leuven last year, generously shared by Klaas himself - wondering if a ’dark barley wine’ could be successful at all, considering the fact that most (even beer drinking) Belgians are not familiar with the concept of barley wine to begin with. Anyway, this is more or less like I remember it from that privileged pre-tasting: lacing, moussy, irregularly shaped, pale yellowish beige head on top of a very dark mahogany brown beer, nearly black in its general appearance. Fascinating aroma of gravy, dried thyme, caramel, stewed bayleaf, bitter chocolate, old red wine, coffee grounds (in a subtle, diluted form), beef stock, pear, candied fig, black pepper. Sweetish onset, dried fig countered by a sourish, elderberry-like undercurrent, very smooth and full, expectedly vinous mouthfeel, softly carbonated, with a thick and full caramelly malt body, nutty accents and even becoming a tad chocolatey towards the end, where peppery hops come to the rescue and bring balance. Spicy (even lightly dried chili-like) notes ensue along with warming, brown rum-like alcohol, heating up the throat in a non-obnoxious way. As I said from that first sip I had in the spring: this is a beautiful beer, which I urgently need to revisit. First dark ’stoutish’ barleywine in Belgium, in line with similar ideas from Anglo-Saxon craft breweries. This is among the most exciting breweries in Flanders now, if you ask me. Cheers Klaas for inventing this and cheers Ben for selling it in Antwerp.
Tried
from Draft
on 25 Nov 2016
at 19:55