New ‘basic’ stout by Brouwbar, released during their second anniversary party. Medium thick, creamy-mousy, mocha-beige head, slowly dissolving into (eventually) nothing, pitch black robe with only very thin mahogany edge. Aroma of coffee grounds and cold black coffee (strongly so), unsugared black chocolate, marmite, beef ‘bouillon’, burnt toast, reduced gravy, black peppercorns, toasted walnuts. Subduedly sweetish onset (dried figs, old raisins) with initially quite outspoken umami aspects (beef stock) and very light underlying blackberry-ish sourish touch, quite lively, fizzy carbonation, minerally; full and oily body, dry profile of bitter chocolate, toast and eventually strong roasted chicory and black coffee, providing a mouth-filling roasted bitterness, aided by a spicy hop accent. Bitter black chocolate and coffee grounds linger, highlighted by a warming, gin-like alcohol note. Basically the previous vanilla stout but without the vanilla (and slightly tinkered with), this to me is Brouwbar’s best stout to date, with a lovely old school character – 20th century ‘export stout’ seems to be the most accurate characterization – but very solid and balanced, without added frills shouting for attention but with a pronounced, old-fashioned roasted bitterness as the dominant feature. Having begun my ‘beer tasting career’ more than two decades ago, I love this kind of old school ‘basic’ stouts a lot, so this one hits the right spot for me.

24/I/20 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a (2020-71)

Clear reddish brown beer, small creamy off-white to beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: very malty, caramel, grains, chocolate notes, hint of banana. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: malty, grains, hay, banana, slightly sourish, banana peel, soft bitterness, grains. Aftertaste: malty, little spicy, lots of malts, quite some banana, chocolate notes, caramel, little metallic. Decent Dunkelweizen, love the chocolate notes in this one!

From the start, Brouwbar has been drawing inspiration from ‘postmodern’ craft beer genres as well as from traditional European beer styles, so it should come as no surprise that the old Dunkelweizen would be represented some day as well, I guess… Medium thick, creamy, pale greyish beige head lacing in shreds over a misty chocolate brown beer with wine red glow. Aroma of cloves, dried blackberries, soggy brown bread, hard caramel, green pear, freshly cut red apple, minerals, reduced gravy and beef stock (weirdly), banana peel, damp earth, tea, composted coffee grounds and a far less welcoming hint of sewer water (H2S). Fruity onset, but way less of the expected banana ester than of red apple and green pear; sharpish, minerally carbonation, brown-bready and lightly caramelly malt core with a very persistent and outspoken sourish streak running through the whole, from wheat obviously but more ‘vividly’ and sharply as well, possibly from mild infection, which would explain the H2S accent in the nose… Ends with lingering dark maltiness (restrainedly caramelly, even a tad chocolatey), herbal-hoppy without any real bitterness to speak of, and a ‘dirty’ accent connected to the sourishness. Somewhat unusual for a Dunkelweizen – I miss the banana and a more soft, soapy, bready malt sweetness, but the fact that they take on this style, often neglected by the ‘craft beer movement’, is noteworthy enough. Interesting one, but the sourishness in the mouth and ‘dirtiness’ in the nose makes me suspect that indeed this batch was mildly infected…

New (January 2020) Brouwbar stout flavoured with vanilla, from tap at Brouwbar. Thinnish, open, slowly dissolving, pale greyish beige head lacing in dots over a jet black beer with a hazy chestnut brown edge of not more than a few millimetres. Aroma of unsugared black chocolate, coffee grounds, black toast, slight molasses, cigar tobacco, indeed a whiff of vanilla but subtle, beef stock cubes, charred steak, toasted walnuts, dried blackcurrants, rum-soaked raisins, rainwater, hints of liquorish, bayleaf, dry juniper berries and furniture wax when warming up. Sweetish onset (though restrainedly so) with a sourish edge and somewhat more pronounced, beef stock-like umami aspects, softish carbonation, still some minerally side accents, hard-caramelly and toasty-nutty middle with a bitter black chocolate core, ending with nice coffeeish roasted bitterness, indeed flavoured with a dash of vanilla but faintly so. Long, rounded roasty-bitter finish with black chocolate, toasted bread and a peppery hop bitter ‘kick’ lingering. More robust than I am used to from Brouwbar, which tends to specialize in the difficult equilibrium of modern craft on the one hand and accessibility to a large audience on the other hand and does that exceptionally well; this one goes that one step further, whilst remaining ‘welcoming’ and easygoing all the same. The vanilla is very subtle and could have been much more outspoken for me (I love it), but maybe it has already faded a bit after a few weeks; the bottom line here, however, is that Brouwbar now has a full-fledged, roasty stout (this is more ‘stout’ than KS15 and KS24 were, for example) that can be used as a starting point for many other variants. Why not use this recipe for a chili stout or a coffee stout, for instance?

13/XII/19 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a - (2019-2136)

Clear blond beer, small creamy white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of ripe banana, malty, some cardboard, bit herbal, dusty, cloves. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: lots of banana, cloves, weird kind of sourness. Aftertaste: more sourish, red berries, soft bitterness, more banana, floral touch, weird, cloves, acidic finish, not my kind of beer…

The latest Brouwbar beer to date – but two others are already in the making – using Motueka and Nelson Sauvin hops so referred to as a “New Zealand IPA”; not the first beer identifying itself as “New Zealand style” (APA or IPA) because of this reason, so even if ‘NZPA’ or something alike ('Aotearoa pale ale' also being in use) is not always recognized as an independent beer style and more of a commercial concept invented by the new wave of New Zealand craft breweries, the sheer announcement of “New Zealand” in this context does evoke a specifically exotic beer profile. Egg-white, creamy, mousy, medium thick, paper-like lacing head, misty apricot blonde robe. Aroma of purple gooseberries, yellow Zespri kiwi (could be autosuggestion), ripe melon, touch passionfruit, sweet white grape accent, pear, orange, background hints of overripe shallot and raw zucchini. Cleanly fruity, sweetish onset with very lively, even sharp and initially somewhat numbing carbonation, melon and pear hints, supple and slick cereally malt profile with a pleasant biscuity accent to it, quickly aromatized by the hops, providing retronasal impressions of yellow fruit, a tad tropical even – passionfruit, guava, yellow kiwi, perhaps a dash of pineapple. Bit powdery, mildly spicy bitterness, kept soft as usual in Brouwbar’s IPAs, while that lovely expressive fruitiness of the New Zealand hop varieties lingers around. In its soft bitterness, I would personally advertise this as an APA rather than an IPA, but as a whole, this is a modern, delicate and very elegantly aromatic pale ale I would happily revisit next time I’m at Brouwbar (one of my favourite spots in Ghent, I might add).