Flesje gedeeld door Roelzie86 en gedronken met Benzai en Tomhendriksen. Bleek gelig troebel bier. Weinig aroma, ietsje zoet zuur. Smaak is fruitig hoppig. Nasmaak is iets hoppig.

Flesje gedeeld door Roelzie86 en gedronken met Benzai en Tomhendriksen. Fruitig aroma. Smaak is is zoet, kleverig en toch fruitig.

Fles gedeelt door Roelzie1986, geprobeerd met Inoven. Het is een oranje geel bier met een medium schuimkraag. Het heeft een moutige geur. De smaak is moutig, gist en wat kruidig.

Fles gedeelt door Roelzie1986, geprobeerd met Inoven. Het is een rood bruin bier met weinig schuim. Het heeft een moutige wat fruitige geur. De smaak is vol moutig, zacht zoet en fruitig.

330ml bottle from Vanuxeem. Consumed on a rainy evening at home. Pours a deep reasonably clear amber, small off-white head. Aroma has an encouraging caramel aroma. Taste has a fairly vibrant caramel character, brown sugar, almost chemical sweet with some icing coming through. That said, it's pretty enjoyable for a sweet caramel quad. Those without a sweet tooth may want to stay clear.

Maenhout collaborating with some small American craft brewer in Minneapolis to craft an imperial stout hopped with Columbus and Sorachi Ace and 'enriched' with coffee beans and cocoa nibs - we need more of this kind of innovation in Belgium so cheers to Thijs Maenhout in advance. Bottle from De Caigny (I think). Creamy, yellowish beige, medium thick, regular head lacing in streaks over a black beer with misty chestnut brown edges, only visible under bright light. Aroma of warm coffee with a dash of milk, lots of licorice candy, moist black chocolate bars and old 'pralines', pear syrup, hazelnut paste, lots of wet raisins, cloves taken from a beef stew, coffee filters, bayleaf, clay, black radish, hints of whisky, dried plum, chewing tobacco, nutmeg, cooked beetroot, walnuts, dried ginger and a background whiff of dead tree leaves. Sweet onset, dried plums and raisins made soggy again, some ripe pear, with a mellow underlying sourishness to it; carbonation remains on the soft side, mouthfeel is rounded, soft and full, but not as oily as I expect from an 11% ABV stout. Toffeeish malt core, almost immediately acquiring soft bitterish edges but something very thinly metallic as well; toasted walnuts and black bitter chocolate appear quickly, the latter accentuated by the actual cocoa nibs. Meanwhile rather pronounced phenolic effects appear (cloves, licorice, nutmeg, ginger) - not surprisingly paired with a bready yeast effect in the finish, cutting through the coffee bean factor which remains altogether subtle and adds insufficient retronasal coffee aroma. Ends with a glow of heating and eventually wry-ish, whisky-like alcohol which distracts a bit from otherwise agreeably lingering nutty, coffeeish and black chocolatey maltiness and earthily bittering, but not too aromatic hoppiness. Meritorious attempt at an international, modern imperial stout the American way, but still stuck in Belgianness - in the sense of being a tad too phenolic (especially the licorice phenol bothered me a bit), too earthy and too 'dirty'. Other points of (minor) criticism for me include too much astringent booziness in the end and a lack of coffee aromatics - if you claim to be (partially) a coffee stout, then at least I expect freshly made black coffee aromatics to rise up my nose during swallowing and those weren't very active here. I think omitting the coffee altogether and replacing it by a bit more roasted barley, which adds a coffeeish roastedness on its own, would not be a bad idea. But then, this is apparently experimental and will not be reiterated, so I guess they gave themselves only one shot at success - and missed it by a split hair. Decent stout, but I was hoping the Americans (admittedly from a brewery in Minneapolis I never heard of) would have contributed more oiliness, thickness, intensity and boldness. That said: kudos to Maenhout for - limitedly - putting this on the Belgian market, there is way worse out here when it comes to tinkering with the American style "impy" concept.

F: big, tanned, average retention. C: dark, opaque. A: dark malts, bit earthy, herbal, spicy, chocolate. T: dark malts, chocolate, bit coffee, mellow dark fruits, liquorice, not very complex but nice oily mouthfeel, some vinous tones, full body, lower carbonation, enjoyed, 33cl bottle from Prik & Tik ABC Drinks Leuven.