Keg at Port Street.. Dark black... Thin tan lacing... Soft sweet chocolate roast malts nose.. Heavy chocolate roast malts nose.. Dark rich chocolate roast.. Dark chocolate malts rich heavy malts roast

Salted porter from what is probably France’s most internationally oriented brewery of the moment, tasted from tap at Moeder Lambic Original. Very thick and frothy, regularly shaped, pale yellowish beige, very dense head, blackish robe but still largely translucent under bright light, with burgundy hue. Aroma of coffee grounds, toasted hazelnuts, leather, dried seaweed, black olive, dry tea leaves, fig, hard butterscotch candy, some vanilla and milk sugar. Restrained dry fruitiness, only subduedly sweetish with hints of dried fig and raisin, vague baked banana aspect, followed by a thick but ’dry’ umami edge, somewhat reminiscent of dried seaweed (I guess this represents the salty factor) or dried mushrooms, caramelly and deeply nutty, toasted malt bittersweetness in the middle, ending in lots of burnt toast, all the while effectuating a sharpish carbonation which impairs the mouthfeel a bit and does not seem entirely fit for the style. Ends dry and bitter, but softly so, remaining creamy and rounded, wiht peppery hops and lingering coffeeish roasted bitterness. Decent but a bit ’generic’, I expected the saltiness to come through more clearly as well, but in relation to the rest of French brewing, this is more daring and outspoken than usual.

From tap. Pours pitch black with a small brown and creamy head. Aroma is roasted malty, chocolate and breadish. Caramelish and roasted. Smooth malty, breadish. Slight mineral note. Roasted malty and chocolate finish.

Bottle sample @ Vini Birre Ribelli ’16. Dorée claire transparent, col blanc fin. Arôme au nez finement citrique, sour mash modéré rétro houblonné reste un peu faiblard. Palais sur base de Berliner qui est tjs solide, retrouve plus l’effet Mosaic et Chinook avec une teneur en bouche très sèche, herbacé et citronné avec une petite pointe agrumes et fruité. L’effet aigrelet est modéré sans virer dans ce que certains anglais font. Scores précédents ne font pas justice à cette bière qui reste correcte.

Bottle sample @ Vine Birre Ribelli ’16 as Berliner au Petit Lait de Chèvre. Dorée transparent, col fin blanc. Arôme met de suite en évidence un bouquet des plus étonnant rappelant fortement le lait de chèvre et un petit crémeux. Caractère berliner est plus discret et arrive en rétro-nasal. Palais est finement aigrelet, Berliner est là avec un effet unique de ce petit lait qui garde une base assurée de lait de chèvre. Effet lactique est là sans être surfait avec une petite omission niveau citrique au profit de ce petit lait. Étonnant et unique, s’adhère, une de ces bières que on aime ou déteste.

330 ml. bottle sampled @ Vini Birre Ribelli 2016. Paler citrus golden. Nose is weird mineral, chemical, spoiled fruit. Body is far too watery & the same goes for the taste. Lightly salty, chemical, lemon zest, spoiled fruit, lactic, mineral. Strange & far too watery for what it is. Their basic Berliner Weisse is much better than this. Maybe they tried to fix a batch? Still I don’t think that it is as awful as the other reviewers. It isn’t that great either & far too watery.