Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Layered lacey head from cream to brown, thick; black beer. Liquorice, chalk, chocolate and walnut liqueur, Nocino, leather. Walnutpeel explosing in the mouth, Nocino (bis), and tobacco. Warming up, it becomes even more liqueurish, sweet hints peeping through both roast and walnut. Very well bodied, chewy, voluptous, good initial carbonation. In the ocean of Imperial Stouts, Barrel aged/Pastry/syruped/etc/etc, something truly original and apart. Good!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
"De roe" - I reckon I should have waited for a week or three more before opening this one, as its name refers to an aspect of the Saint Nicholas feast on December 6th (a beloved tradition in the Catholic part of the Low Countries), but this November night felt gloomy enough for a nightcap like this one: a strong walnut-flavoured stout by HopSaSam, my favourite East-Flemish supplier of strong malty beers in Anglo-Saxon styles. Medium thick, pale greyish beige, shred-lacing, dense head, breaking into flat 'islands' in the middle but otherwise stable; very dark chocolate brown robe, black in actual fact, with misty mahogany edges under bright light. Aroma of 'pure' bitter black chocolate (and very dominantly so even for a strong stout), high quality black coffee, toasted walnuts (for real this time: an actual walnut aroma, though less pronounced and more earthy than I was expecting), charred toast, burnt currants, whisky, salmiak, molasses (strong!), treacle piercing through (i.e. the brown sugar actually used here), Frisian rye bread, fresh bayleaf, roasted chicory - and coffee returning more than once, old pecan nuts, autumn leaves, liquorice and clove in the background. Dense onset, sweet from the brown sugar but nowhere sticky, with this sweetness behaving in a fruity way (dried fig, pear), plus a dim sourish undertone and a very light umami aspect (porcini), all understanding each other well; moderate carb, or actually rather sharpish for this kind of beer, adding a minerally effect piercing through a full, oily 'stout' body, but also seemingly thinning it a bit - resulting in a dangerously high drinkability. Episodes of bitter black chocolate and black coffee fill the middle, complemented by toast, dark rye bread (with this typical dim rye spiciness clearly present) and a hint of dry caramel - the walnut then setting in subtly and remaining subtle, too subtle perhaps? If anything, it seems to add a layer of wryness - think green walnut, or that bitter layer of 'skin' on a ripe walnut - which was not really necessary here; I would rather have had an actual (sweeter) walnut flavour, as in walnut liqueur, but I guess this is difficult to accomplish when using actual walnuts. Retronasally, a walnut aroma is definitely noticeable, though. In any case the joined walnut and malt bitterness is soon amplified by a profound, leafy and earthy hop bitterness (unsurprisingly at 70 IBU) which lasts and lasts. It does carry that rather wry walnut bitterness on for a while, and the coffee-like roasted bitter malt aspect travels along with it as well, all highlighted by gin-like alcohol which further contributes to an overall astringency which I think should have been mitigated a bit. Somehow - but you are the brewer, Sam - it must be possible to enhance the sweet aspect of the walnut a bit for balance, because now this walnut stout combines just a bit too many different forms of wryness (alcohol being the most annoying one to my taste); then again I do appreciate Sam's audacity in creating something like this and retronasally the walnut certainly plays the lead. Bold, layered sipper, robust and powerful, but improvable as well: if both alcohol wryness and that 'brown-green' wryness of walnut skin are toned down a bit, ideally with an increase of walnut sweetness which is also part of walnut flavour for me, then I think this "rod" has the potential to become a truly great stout and one of HopSaSam's evergreens. Consider these minor criticisms, though: I certainly enjoyed this one as a nightcap on a mid-November evening.
nathanvc (6881) reviewed Planckgas from HopSaSam 2 months ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
20 June 2025. “Iets voor den Erwin” @ Dracuna. Cheers to the whole GBV crew!
Hazy dark brown, stable, foamy, tan head. Aroma of wet oak chips, candied date, fig, prune, red apple, burnt brown sugar, brandy. Taste has very sweet date, fig & red apple, some banana too in a syrupy & brown-sugary malt body, complemented by light herbal and phenolic notes. Soft herbal hops in the finish, quickly dominated again by dried fruits, wet wood, a whiff of vanilla and boozy liqueur-like alcohol (not aggressive, though, and still fitting the profile well). Medium to full body, syrupy texture, average carbonation. A delicious sipper, happy to have another bottle for cellaring. Cheers to Erwin, you legend!
Gerbeer (8166) reviewed Firestorm Dragon from HopSaSam 3 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
330 ml bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown with no head. Aromas of orange peel, fruity gin/jenever, dark fruit and toasty malts. Flavors of same with sharp fruity finish. Very good.
Gerbeer (8166) reviewed Super O.P.A. from HopSaSam 3 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
330 ml bottle. Pours a very dull amber with light head. Aromas of doughy malts, candied citrus, and muddled tropical fruit. Flavors of fruity gin/jenever, candied orange, stewed fruit and more doughy malts. Interesting.
Gerbeer (8166) reviewed 10-Eyed Dragon from HopSaSam 3 months ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
330 ml bottle. Pours a murky brown with little head. Aromas of oaky bourbon, dark fruit, a bit of Belgian yeast and dry toasty malts. Flavors of dark fruit leaning towards inky figs, with more oaky bourbon and dry toasty malts. Alcohol is prominent at the end with somewhat sour woody notes. Interesting.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Planckgas from HopSaSam 5 months ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8
Dark barleywine aged on oak chips, created by HopSaSam brewer Sam Vanderstraeten as a surprise gift to his good friend Erwin Plancke, the current president of the Gentse Biervereniging (Ghentian Beer Club), under the slogan that people should be celebrated while they are still alive, whereas in practice words of praise are often uttered with the greatest conviction at their funeral. With this playful idea in mind, the bottles were even equipped with a strand of hair-like fabric representing Erwin’s formidable beard… Tasted at – where else – the surprise party for Erwin where this beer was presented to him and the rest of the club. Medium thick, quite firm and frothy, pale mocha-tinged beige head over a very dark caramel brown robe with ochre-ish edges. Inviting bouquet of dry caramel, vanillin from the oak chips (more pronounced than usual when only chips are used), ground pistachio nuts, almonds, brandy, toasted bread, dried fig, a vague touch of liquorice somewhere, dark chocolate accent, dried apple peel. Sweet onset in a clean, well-measured way, nowhere sticky, dark fruitiness of dried prunes and figs, hint of dates and some baked banana, softishly carbonated with smooth, full body, gliding heavily over the tongue leaving a trace of toffee, nut bread, a bit of toast and a bit of chocolate, with slight tannic oak effects in its wake, along with retronasal vanilla; additional whiffs of strawberry, raisin, liquorice and bayleaf join in, establishing a rich, long finish, warmed up by brandy-like alcohol which nowhere becomes astringent. I have been following HopSaSam with great interest ever since it came onto the market not with the umpteenth blonde or tripel, but with the beautifully crafted, stylishly packed and totally unexpected Nonniversaire barleywines – now that was something else, and Sam has been continuing on this path ever since. As one of the more idiosyncratic and inspired brewing projects in East Flanders (or Belgium in general), it just had to be them to honour the great Erwin Plancke, whom I am lucky enough to have known in person for almost ten years now myself (and at sight over thirty years, as I recall him being quite a remarkable figure when he was a fellow student at the Ghent university). So cheers Erwin, you are already memorable enough without having a specialty beer attached to your name, but this is truly a great gift from a friend and well deserved.
Bierridder (4160) ticked Bière Lumière from HopSaSam 6 months ago
Bierridder (4160) ticked Firestorm Dragon from HopSaSam 6 months ago
Bierridder (4160) ticked Baron Rouge D'Enaame from HopSaSam 6 months ago
Brewery Stats
| Score | 7.09 |
| Beers | 37 |
| Ticks | 146 |
Top Reviewers (Not including batches)
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Bierridder | 34 |
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Alengrin | 14 |
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jefverstraete | 14 |
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tderoeck | 13 |
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Sloefmans | 8 |
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nathanvc | 7 |
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Kraddel | 6 |
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Gerbeer | 5 |
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Rubin77 | 5 |
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mike_77 | 5 |