6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Aroma of fruits, citrus, yeast, grass, some hops. Flavour is light sweet with a moderate bitter finish. Not as bitter as advertised, but I enjoyed my bottle of this very refreshing Belgian ale.

7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

330mL bottle, undated, drunk 1/14/25.
Clear, dark purple-violet-burgundy. Small, dark beige head, moderate retention.
Smells like a BSA/Quad. Big dark fruits. HUGE dark fruits, rather. Hint of oxidation, lots of fruity yeast and moderate phenol. Almost no stout character.
In the mouth there's a rather ridiculous attempt to provide some stout character. Hints of smoked malt and roast fall before the Belgian yeast, light candi sugar-like character and huge dark fruit character. Medium-bodied, no thinning with, perhaps, not quite as much flavor as I'd want for its size. The real issue is this is another one of these ridiculous "Imperial Stouts". No, this isn't an Imperial Stout, it's not a stout. It's through-and-through a dark strong Belgian ale with a marginal amount of roasted barley/malt. That said, pretty clean, fruity, not crudely-phenoled, good attenuation and texture. Not boozey. Grew on me a lot over the course of 45 minutes or so, as it breathed.

Rating it to the BSA style. As an Impy stout it would fare very poorly.

6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bottle at home. Just a random grab. Not prettiest hue of brown I’ve seen. Nose is dark fruits and earthy chocolate. Tastes of figs, plum, soy sauce, chocolate, licorice, rootbeer, port wine. Finish is wine. Slick palate.

5.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 1.5

Tap at ZBF: An mustard yellow coloured ale with practically no head, some hints of mustard. Strange brew not my favorite.

6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Bottle at Bierbrasserie Cambrinus, Bruges: Hazy wheatbeer with oranges taste and no head at all.

7

What a beer. Very typical, very belgian phenonic heavy. T brug neetje brugge

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Imperial coffee porter by ‘t Smisje (the follow-up to De Regenboog after its move from Bruges to Oudenaarde and having become increasingly silent since then), tasted at Brugs Beertje as a 2017 vintage bottle (so seven years of age), thanks to Craftmember for sharing. Medium sized, moussey, pale greyish-off-white head, very dark chocolate brown robe (blackish) with mahogany edges. Aroma of coffee grounds a mile out, dark bitter chocolate, soy sauce, toasted walnuts, lots of black coffee, dried prunes, raisins, old ‘dropjes’, hints of blue cheese, chewing tobacco, damp cellar, sepia ink and smoked herring. Sweet and mildly umami onset, dried prune and raisin with light hints of beef stock and soy sauce, softly carbonated with full, oily mouthfeel; very supple toasty and dry-caramelly core, more bitter than sweet, with increasing black coffee roastiness towards the end, paired with tea-ish herbal hoppy accents and a soy sauce-like note of oxidation. The herbal hop bitterness in the end becomes quite prominent, while whisky-ish alcohol warms the back of the mouth and leathery, peppery, evidently strongly coffeeish and chicory-like elements linger. Not only well matured, with only slight signs of oxidation only adding charm and complexity here, but also noticeably well brewed, with a much more clean, focused and Anglo-Saxon profile than many other pioneering beers from the same brewer in his earlier Regenboog period. Better than expected – delicious even.